The National Archive of Kalmykia: Excerpts from the History of its Key Activities in 1920-1938

Abstract

The article examines the activities of one of the regional archives of the Lower Volga Region - the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia - in the period of 1920 to 1938. The work presents the main areas of its activities, such as acquisition, preservation and use; gradually traces the sources of the archive’s collection; covers the issue of document storage; mentions publications prepared by employees of the archive; contains references to most important administrative documents of central and local authorities regarding regional archives in general and the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia in particular. The chronological framework of the study is limited by the years 1920 and 1938. 1920 is the establishment year of the Kalmyk people’s autonomy and that of the state archival service of Kalmykia. 1938 is the year when the state archival service passed from the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTSiK) to control of - and, thus, was incorporated by - the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD). The scientific novelty of the work is due to coverage of understudied points dealing with the activities of the archive in 1920-1938 and introduction of previously unknown documents from the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia and the State Archive of Astrakhan Oblast into scientific discourse. The article is based on reporting documents stored at the two archives mentioned above. With evidence from one regional archive, the paper characterizes the formation of the new system of the Soviet archival network and traces its initial development. Special attention is given to the personality of the first head of Kalmykia’s state archival service - professor N. N. Palmov. Moreover, the first Kalmyk archivists were able to preserve valuable archival collections of the republic which are nowadays so much required and can be used by historians and ethnographers.