Often times in life there are situations when it is necessary to obtain accurate information about your past life or the lives of your relatives, but the necessary documents have not been preserved. In this case, the only way to restore what was lost is to contact the appropriate archive. However, in order to achieve a good result, you need to know which archive to access and how to do it correctly.
Instructions
Step 1
First of all, keep in mind that the archive is a state institution that ensures the preservation of documents and satisfies the information needs of the population. Therefore, contacting any archive requires compliance with certain rules and formalities.
Step 2
At present, any citizen of the Russian Federation can apply to the State Archives on personal request or to obtain the necessary information when conducting any scientific research. If you need information concerning you personally or your relatives, when you go to the archive, you only need a passport and a personal statement. You can get the application form from the employees of the archive.
Step 3
If you are going to contact on a personal matter, first of all find out in which archive the documents you need may be located. If it comes to general civil information (dates of birth and death, marriage, etc.), you will need a district registry office archive. All act and registers are kept in it for 75 years. If you require older documents, contact the regional state archive, where documents from the archives of the registry office are transferred after the expiration of the established period.
Step 4
For information on a working career, contact the archives of the relevant organization or, in the case of military personnel and sailors, the Russian State Military Archive (RGVA) or the Central Naval Archive. However, keep in mind that when accessing the military archives, you need to know the number of the unit in which the person served and the approximate years of service.
Step 5
In addition to personal and family information in the state archives, you can get information about historical events and work with various historical documents. If you are collecting information for the preparation of scientific work, take a special document in your scientific institution - "Attitude", which will indicate from which scientific organization you are directed and what is the subject of your request.
Step 6
When contacting the archive, keep in mind that although there is no charge for the work in the reading room of the archive, there are a number of services that are not provided for by the Rules of work for users, which may be commercial. In particular, a certain fee is charged for the preparation of archival references by the employees of the archive on private requests, for an accelerated period of preparation of documents, etc.
