The State Archives Network of Belarus marks 90 years since foundation
In 2012 the State Archives Network of the Republic of Belarus marks 90 years since foundation and the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus 85 years. The international scholarly conference, The Historical Heritage of Belarus: Identification, Preservation and Study was held in Minsk on 17-18 May in connection with the jubilee dates (dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the State Archives Service of the Republic of Belarus, the 85th anniversary of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus, the 20th anniversary of the Belarusian State University Department of Source Studies). A press-conference was held on 22 May and the ceremonial meeting will be held on 24 May to celebrate 90 years since the foundation of the archives and records management bodies and the state archives network of the Republic of Belarus and 85 years of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus.
The archive agencies in our country started their activity on 4 August 1922. On this day the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic examined the issue on the state of archival business in Belarus and adopted a resolution On Archives. On 12 September 1922 a Regulation on the Central Archives of Belarus was adopted, which defined major objectives and principles of centralization for archival business in Belarus.
During the past 90 years the names of the archive agencies as well as the archives governing system in Belarus have changed many times.
Presently the executive, supervisory, regulating and other special functions in the field of archival affairs and records management are the responsibility of the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Justice Ministry of the Republic of Belarus. The similar functions at local level are fulfilled by the archives and records divisions within the justice departments of the regional executive committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee. The network of the state archival institutions of the Republic of Belarus includes six republic-level archives, nine regional and 16 local archives; two research institutions; two laboratories for records restoration and microfilming.
The Belarusian state archives preserve over 12 million archival files. Information from these records have been continuously used in scholarly, political, economic, social, cultural and administrative purposes.
The National Archives of the Republic of Belarus (NARB) counts its history from 28 May 1927, when the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars of the BSSR legally approved the creation of the BSSR Central Archives of October Revolution. The NARB received its present name on 12 June 1995 when it was founded on the basis of the Belarusian State Archives and the complex of records of the former Central Party Archives of the Communist Party of Belarus. The NARB holds about one million files in its repositories and has 156 personnel staff. The Archives accumulates records of central government authorities and republic-level institutions. Today NARB is a major archival institution in our country.