On the Career Guidance Lesson Held at the State Archives of the Gomel Region as Part of the National «Archives for School» Campaign

On February 6, 2026, a career guidance lesson titled «Live, Teach, and Work in the Republic of Belarus!» was held for 11th-grade students at the State Archives of the Gomel Region from Gomel Secondary School No.75.

Senior Researcher Maya Valentinovna Vashchenko spoke to the students about the history of the regional archives and the institution’s main activities.

During a tour of the archives, Lead Archivist Marina Vladimirovna Bortnovskaya explained the documents stored at the institution. The graduates learned about document value assessment and electronic document management. In the laboratory, the students were shown archival document repair processes.

In the archive’s reading room, students were treated to a thematic exhibition of documents and photographs, «Return to Peaceful Life. Post-War Gomel». Maya Valentinovna Vashchenko described the city’s restoration during the first post-war five-year plan. Students learned about the labor exploits of Gomel residents and the Stakhanovite-Cherkizov movement in Gomel’s factories and plants. Thanks to the dedicated work of Gomel residents, the city was quickly rebuilt from ruins and the national economy was restored to its pre-war level. Students were fascinated by the photographs of the old streets and squares of their hometown displayed at the exhibition.

Maya Valentinovna explained to the students how the process of selecting and preparing documents for exhibitions is conducted.

«When working with documents, an archivist must possess analytical skills, meticulousness, attentiveness, perseverance, and patience, as well as the ability to systematize information». If you love the history of your native region and possess these qualities, then the profession of «archivist» is for you», – said Maya Valentinovna.

At the end of the event, the students watched a documentary about the work of archivists at the Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo, and Sound Documents, «The House Where Time Lives».

1. During a tour of the archive, M.V.Bortnovskaya spoke about document preservation.

2. In the archive’s reading room, M.V.Vashchenko presented the exhibition «Return to Peaceful Life. Post-War Gomel».

3. Screening of the film «The House Where Time Lives».