State Archives of Gomel Region
Description of holdings
Amount of holdings: 2 666 fonds, 595 472 items
Chronological scope: from 1917 to the present
Geographical coverage:
- abolished Gomel gubernia (province), including some parts of the present Mogilev, Vitebsk, Chernigov (Ukraine) and Briansk (Russia) regions (records from 1919-1926)
- abolished Svetilovichi, Uvarovichi and Terekhovo districts
- the town of Gomel, the Buda-Koshelevo, Vetka, Gomel, Dobrush, Korma and Chechersk districts of the Gomel region
Contents:
Records dating from 1917-1941 contain data on the establishment and evolution of the Soviet system after the October Socialist Revolution of 1917, the formation of the local government in the Gomel region, the Russian Civil War (1918-1921), and the reform of the territorial-administrative division of the Gomel region.
The fonds of the Gomel Province Economics Council, planning commissions and industrial enterprises contain data on the development of agriculture and industry in the Gomel region (land nationalization, registration of former landed estates, the condition in the local and cottage industry, electrification, the installation of radio, and more).
Records illustrating the state of various institutions in the field of education and culture are gathered in the fonds of the Gomel Province Executive Committee, the provincial division of the Russian “Down with Illiteracy” Society, various educational, cultural, labour and social welfare institutions and agencies.
The archive’s records contain data on the establishment of financing, crediting, planning and control agencies, justice, courts, prosecutor’s and militia. There are records concerning the suppression of Strekopytov’s rebellion against communists in 1919.
The data on the development of economics in the Gomel region are provided in the fonds of statistical bureaus, planning commissions, the provincial division of the People’s Commissariat of the Workers and Peasants Inspection of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), land departments, collective and state farms.
Records of the Western Railroad Administration, the Gomel Division of the Belarusian Railroad, the Dnepr-Dvina and Upper-Dnepr River Steamship companies, local post stations, postal telegraph offices, and the Gomel Region Broadcasting Directorate illustrate the formation and development of various transportation and communication agencies.
The fonds of labour and welfare organizations contain data on the local commissions for the assistance to Red Army soldiers who were wounded or ill and the committees for peasants mutual aid; data on the registration and allocation of labour, and the universal labour service.
The activity of trade union organizations is reflected in the fonds of the provincial, regional and district trade union committees.
Information on the state of natural resources and ecology, market economy and pricing, the establishment and development of various private organizations and the Free Economic Zone in the Gomel region, the construction of gas networks and equipment, the state of criminality and the conduct of the law-enforcement agencies are held in the fonds of the regional executive committee and its boards.
In addition, the Archives holds a collection of personal papers related to the participants of the October Revolution of 1917, the Russian Civil War (1918-1921) and World War Two, politicians and public figures.