Virtual Exhibition «Memory in Hands: The Life and Work of N.A.Samoylenko» (on the 105th anniversary of the birth of the former director of the Brest Region State Archives branch in Baranovichi)

To mark the 105th anniversary of her birth, the Zonal State Archives in Baranovichi presents a virtual exhibition dedicated to the life and work of Nadezhda Alekseyevna Samoylenko, who headed the archive in Baranovichi from 1959 to 1984.

This period is rich in events in the archive’s history – the activities of the Baranovichi City Archive, organized on the basis of the regional archive after the reorganization of the Baranovichi Region in 1954, and then the establishment of the Brest Region State Archives branch in Baranovichi on November 11, 1963. The staff and the number of documents stored changed, but the tasks, like those of any archive, remained constant, and they had to be accomplished with a small team in an inadequate building.

During N.A.Samoylenko’s tenure, extensive organizational and methodological work was carried out, a significant number of collections were processed and improved, a scientific reference system for documents and a state archive acquisition system were developed, and a new building was constructed.

The team repeatedly won prizes in republican and regional socialist competitions. For her long-term and conscientious work, N.A.Samoylenko was awarded Certificates of Honor from the Main Archival Administration under the Council of Ministers of the BSSR, the Supreme Soviet of the BSSR, the Central Committee of the Trade Union of State Institution Employees, and the Brest Regional Executive Committee, as well as the medal «For Valiant Labor. In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of V.I.Lenin». The archive preserves the life and work of Nadezhda Alekseyevna Samoylenko thanks to her daughter, Valentina Ivanovna Alekseyeva (who also worked professionally in the archives). In 2020, memoirs, photographs, a diploma, and certificates of honor were donated to the collection of personal documents from the family archive.

N.A.Samoylenko’s name is included in the bibliographic reference book «Archivists of Belarus» and in the archive’s Book of Honor.