| Is there a fee for a reader's ticket? |
| No, admission into the archives is free. |
| Does the researcher have access
to all records preserved in the Estonian Historical Archives? |
| As a rule, researchers have access to all records, except for those
very few with limited access (Archives
Act § 42). |
| From which period are there materials
in the Estonian Historical Archives? |
| The records held in the Estonian Historical Archives span the period
from the mid-13th century to 1917. From the years 1918-1940 we hold
records of land registries (land registry files of the farms, plans
of the farms, etc) and some other institutions (Tartu University,
orthodox churches, insurance companies, enterprises, various associations
and organisations), personal archives. |
| In which language are the documents
preserved in the Estonian Historical Archives? |
| For the most part, records are in German. A great number of records
from the 18th and 19th century are in Russian. There are also documents
in Swedish, Estonian, Latin, French and Polish. |
| What is a file? |
File is a record or a collection of records. It can comprise only
few pages, but it can also be
a volume, a minute book or an account book of hundreds of pages. It
can be a seal, a map,
a photo or a big photo-album. |
| Is it possible to deposit the records
of the historical archives temporarily in other archives? |
| In order to deposit records, you have to write an application to
the head of the holdings department including full references of the
records you want. Right now it is possible to deposit files for a
month in the Estonian State Archives in Tallinn only. |
| Can I find genealogical trees of
families in the archives? |
| The research on one's family is to be carried out by oneself. |
| How long would it take to research
my family history? |
| It will take at least weeks or even months. |
| Are there in Estonia any institutions/persons
offering genealogical research service? |
| Genealogical research service is provided by: Estonian Biographical
Center (Tiigi 10-51, 51003 Tartu, Estonia, e-mail: info@isik.ee, http://www.isik.ee). |
| How to obtain a reference concerning
the real estate once owned? |
You have to fill in a special reference inquiry form available in
our archives or on our home page or write an application yourself.
The applications can be sent by post or email. The application must
contain information about the registered immovable as exactly as possible
(its location, owner, its number).
Is it possible to find information about the real estate while knowing
only the name of its owner?
Besides that you also have to know its location (county, manor, town,
etc). |
| Are there any maps of farms in the
archives? |
| There are a lot of maps of farms in our archives. Maps of farms,
founded before 1919, are preserved in land registry files or in the
collection of maps, in the fonds of land mortgage banks, etc. As a
rule, there are no maps of farms founded after the adoption of agrarian
reform law in 1919. Only in fonds of land registries of Viljandi and
Tallinn such kind of maps can be found. Maps can also be found in
the Estonian
State Archives. |
| When was the immovable belonging
to my grandparents expropriated? |
| All land both in towns and in rural areas was declared to be state
property on July 27, 1940. The list of the expropriated immovable
was published in Eesti NSV Teataja (1940-1941). Documents concerning
properties transferred to the ownership of collective farms can be
found in county archives. |
| Are there any construction designs,
drawings, photos or descriptions of buildings (houses, schools, factories,
hospitals, manor houses) in the archives? |
| Costruction designs can be found in the records of institutions
responsible for approving the plans. Costruction designs of the buildings
located in the towns are preserved in the fonds of town magistrates
or town governments, costruction designs of public buildings can be
found in the fond of the building commission of the guberniya.
|