ArcheoBiblioBase: Archives in Russia: C 3

Arkhiv vneshnei politiki Rossiiskoi Imperii (AVPRI)

[Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire]

Agency: Ministerstvo inostrannykh del RF (MID Rossii)
[Ministry of Foreign Affairs]
Istoriko-dokumental'nyi departament (IDD)
[Historico-Documentary Department]

Previous Names

• 1946-X.1991 - Arkhiv vneshnei politiki Rossii (AVPR)
  [Archive of Foreign Policy of Russsia]
• 1934-1946 - Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv vneshnei politiki (GAVP)
  [State Archive of Foreign Policy]
• 1923-1934 - Arkhiv revoliutsii i vneshnei politiki Rossii
  [Archive of Revolution and Foreign Policy]
• 1834-1864 - Sankt-Peterburgskii Glavnyi arkhiv Ministerstva inostrannykh del (GAMID)
  [Main Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs]
• 1832-1920 - Moskovskii Glavnyi arkhiv Ministerstva inostrannykh del(MGAMID)
  [Moscow Main Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs]

About AVPRI

The archive was established in 1946 on the basis of records from the prerevolutionary Moscow Main Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MGAMID), the Main Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (GAMID) in St. Petersburg, and also the Chancellery of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire. In October 1992, the archive was renamed AVPRI, and since 1993 operates as a division of IDD MID.

The eighteenth-century division contains records from the prerevolutionary Moscow Main Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MGAMID), which had remained the main depository for official diplomatic records until the early 1830s. Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century complexes include: holdings of the former St. Petersburg Main Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (GAMID); records which had been retained in the chancellery archive of the Foreign Ministry itself in St. Petersburg; and records of various Russian embassies, missions, and consulates abroad.

There are also personal fonds of diplomats, a special collection of original treaties, and several other special collections.

Access

All fonds in the archive are open to the public, for foreign as well as Russian researchers.

Requests for access should be presented in an official letter from the researcher's sponsoring institution or Embassy, either to the director of the archive or to the IDD MID, at least one month in advance. Such a letter should indicate the researcher's organization and function, purpose of research, topic, files needed, and date of prospective visit. If a foreigner will require an interpreter such information should also be included. Normally, researchers should confirm their prospective visit no less than five days in advance.

Some AVPRI fonds were closed briefly during the spring of 2003, but as of June 2003, all fonds are open for research.

Copying

Photocopies and microfilm are available in limited quantities (normally 50 copies per year) at high charges that vary with the size and speed of the order; rights for copying are computed separately.There is usually no charge for the right of academic publication for copied documents within Russia, although a separate contract for publication rights must be negotiated in all cases.

Recent General Guides

Additional information in Russian about the history and publications of AVPRI is available electronically at the IDD webpage: http://www.ln.mid.ru/ns-arch.nsf/88ff23e5441b5caa43256b05004bce11
/f8370566e06052d343256b06002fb323?OpenDocument.

• Arkhiv vneshnei politiki Rossiiskoi Imperii: Putevoditel'. Compiled by Iu. V. Basenko, M. A. Borusevich, V. S. Bykov, et al. Edited by I. V. Budnik et al. Minneapolis: East View Publications, 1996. 452 p.(Lib: DLC; MH)
  A comprehensive guide to the archive, including annotations for all of the opisi within individual fonds. Covers five basic sections of the archive: records of the Collegium of Foreign Affairs (1720-1832); central agencies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1802-1917); foreign Russian embassies and other diplomatic agencies (1802-1917); temporary diplomatic agencies and collections of archival materials; and collections of microfilms relating to the history of Russian foreign relations. Includes a helpful introductory agency history of the Ministry (and earlier Collegium) of Foreign Affairs.

• Budnik, Igor' Vladimirovich, and Turilova, Svetlana Leonidovna. "Arkhiv vneshnei politiki Rossiiskoi Imperii." Novaia i noveishaia istoriia, 1994, no. 2, pp. 324-37. (Lib: DLC; IU; MH)
  The most recent survey of the history of the archive, its holdings and publication activities.

Recent Specialized Finding Aids