After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990s and catastrophic social and economic crisis afterwards, the vast majority of Russian families were at a severe disadvantage. The institution of the family in this period was also influenced by various demographic indicators and phenomena: declining birth rates, increasing mortality rates, population ageing, decrease in the number of marriages and, on the contrary, an increase in the number of divorces. Such social phenomena as unemployment, unpaid wages also had a negative impact on the family institution functioning. The article studies the archival documents which reflect the changes of the family institution in Kalmyk Republic taking place during the given period. Data of the archival materials was introduced into a scientific circulation for the first time.