We are trying to preserve not only officialdom, but also living history: Anatoly Khromov
We continue to communicate with Anatoly Khromov, who heads the State Archive Service of Ukraine. This time we are talking about the work of citizens in archives, state-making historical documents, rare archival cases, features of document digitization and their descriptions.
Read the first part of the interview here link
In archival matters, we are trying to overcome the Soviet Union
Iwhat percentage of the archive has already been digitized?
Accounting is carried out by the number of storage units. We don’t know how many sheets we have. A storage unit is a business. It can be on two sheets, or it can have two and a half thousand pages. In order to understand how many are 21 million digitized sheets, we need to know how many sheets we have in total. This is a problem. We are working to introduce a unified register of national archival resources, when a database will be created from accounting documents, primarily from descriptions, which will contain at least 86 million items and each description will indicate how many sheets the document is on. Then we can calculate the percentage.
Didn’t you try to weigh it?
This is a good idea, we often introduce innovative approaches because we want to move away from post-Soviet practices. Archives abroad do not always work as regulated as here. Therefore, we are liberalizing our legislation as much as possible. About weighing – a very good idea. Look, in Ukraine, before handing over a case to the reading room, the archivist has to check it sheet by sheet, and all our cases are sewn up. This is also a Soviet practice, so that suddenly someone does not steal some fragment of the case. Things are not done abroad. They are open, you can easily scroll through them. But there is also a danger of abduction. To avoid this, so-called sensitive scales are used. You put the case, weigh it to the gram, and if some document is plucked from it, the scales will show that something is missing.
Our main problem is the incredible volume of documents. We have 86 million cases, and something must be done with them. First of all, we plan to scan all the descriptions for them, because they are also stored on paper.
Digitization of document descriptions will simplify work in the archive
How does any search actually happen? Let’s say you want to find a certain historical fact in the archive, for example, information about the birth of your grandmother. You know that she was born in the city of Katerynoslav in 1896. Based on the territorial feature, you need the State Archive of the Dnipropetrovsk Region. You take the fund guide and see that they have a fund, for example, 345. These are metric books of the city of Katerynoslav for the period from 1785 to 1919. Next, you will find a description of this fund, which may contain approximately 50 records, divided by year. You are looking for the year 1896, look through the descriptions and find the metric book of a certain church for that year. And only after that you order this book and among 500 pages you look for a record of your grandmother’s birth.
So that people do not need to come to the archive and work with the descriptions in the reading room, we are now striving to scan these descriptions and put them on the site. This will greatly simplify access to information. People will be able to view descriptions online and order exactly the thing they need. This is the first important step.
Secondly, in case of theft of funds by the occupiers, these digitized descriptions will allow to prepare a lawsuit in the future, if restitution is carried out. In recent years, we have digitized more than 50% of descriptions, and in the central archives this figure reaches 95%. After that, it will be possible to convert them into a machine-readable version and create a register.
However, not everything is so simple. There are descriptions that were created together with the documents and were written even before the reform in the old Russian language with the use of “yatei”. Often they contain markers of imperial or communist politics. For example, cases may have titles such as “Fighting nationalist underdogs” or “Petlyur gangs”. Such engaged names cannot be entered in the register. This is a huge amount of work that archivists have to do.
The biggest resource we lack for this task is time.
We adhere to the concept of openness
Do you care about accessibility?
In the context of European integration, we must comply with European standards, in particular, the recommendations of the Council of Europe on the policy of access to archives. This recommendation provides for practically unlimited access to archival materials, which fully corresponds to our concept of openness. There are situations when Russians who are not in the territory of the Russian Federation contact me with a request to search for Ukrainian roots in order to obtain Ukrainian citizenship. It is no longer our responsibility to assess the credibility of applicants, and I cannot block such requests.
Interestingly, most Russians get access to Ukrainian archives through Ukrainian lawyers, and this is a process we cannot block. Ukrainian archivists are obliged to provide access to information in accordance with the law. This is a question of the ethics of the lawyers themselves, why they choose such clients. According to the Constitution and other laws of Ukraine, both the client and the lawyer are free in their choice, and we have no right to violate these norms.
Archivists do not interpret documents
The key task of our updated archive system is to work in accordance with high European standards. We do our best to ensure maximum access to archival materials. If any researcher wants to find a specific fact, we will provide all the necessary support in searching among the available documents. However, archivists do not interpret documents or provide historical assessment. The policy of national memory is not within our competence – there are other relevant bodies for this. Our task is to provide the most convenient access to documents through the creation of an effective reference apparatus and the digitization of archival materials.
Why can’t some documents be found in the archives?
How many wars were there on the territory of Ukraine! How many fund evacuations were there! Many documents were received in the so-called loose form – a pile of sheets, which were later quickly collected into files, especially after the Second World War. Because of this, individual sheets may still be where they logically do not belong. There are various legends that are sometimes supported by documents and sometimes not. Archivists, despite their openness, remain very conservative and bureaucratic, which is a feature of the profession. You can freely use any documents, but we, as archivists, ask you to indicate the archival source by indicating the so-called archival legend: fund, case description, number, sheet. This is important so that others can verify that this document actually exists in the archive. In our time, when there are many fakes, this becomes especially important – because even artificial intelligence is capable of creating authentic-looking falsifications.
We do not interpret documents and do not create concepts of national memory. On the other hand, we are expanding the field of archiving archives. One of the important areas of work of all archives is initiative fund creation. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, all archives created collections dedicated to this problem. Currently, state archives are actively forming collections reflecting Ukraine’s struggle against Russian aggression. Traditionally, official documents are transferred to the archives according to the supply lists, which include materials from regional administrations, departments, and departments. However, we aim to preserve “living history” as well, so that future generations have access not only to official documents, but also to visual materials and oral historical testimonies.
We preserve not only formalities, but also living history
That is why the State Archives Service signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Association of Oral Historians of Ukraine. They are engaged in professional recording of interviews, which are an important addition to archival materials. Although the archivists do not have the skills to record the interviews, we work to ensure that they are properly archived and preserved.
How many documents were added during your tenure?
At least a million new cases are added to the national archival fund every year. We also have the Central State Visual Archive, which has been tasked with archiving documents according to their specifics. The Office of the President has given permission to include all daily addresses of the President in this archive. It is an ongoing process that often does not attract much attention as it relates to the current situation. However, over time, these materials will become an important source for researchers studying the dynamics of presidential rhetoric and its priorities.
However, it is important to understand one thing: it is impossible to save everything. We live in an information society, and more than 90% of daily information disappears, simply does not remain in the archives. Trying to save absolutely all data is unrealistic. Our colossal archival fund, although huge, is still an incomplete picture of events. It is an eclectic mix of fragments from various sources that have come down to us through the centuries. Understanding this helps you stay calm. Trying to save everything is an unattainable goal, you have to be realistic.
What is the oldest document in your archive?
The oldest document in our archive dates back to the 12th century. This is a birch certificate, which is kept in the Central State Historical Archive of the city of Lviv. It originates from the times of Kyivan Rus. In this document, written on birch, a widow named Govenova demanded the return of the debt from the creditors, threatening that otherwise her servants would harm them.
We have three such oldest documents. After that there is a break, during which many parchment documents of the XIII-XV centuries have been preserved. The main array of documents began to appear from the end of the 18th century, when they became more numerous and became more accessible.
Do you also have a video archive?
Yes, we have an audio-video archive that stores documents from the end of the 19th century. In Ukraine, there is also the Dovzhenko Center, which specializes in the preservation of game films, but is not under our supervision. Our archive is focused on documentary.
Each regional archive also has film documents, which were mostly completed in Soviet times. These are recordings transmitted by state television companies.
Do you have their lists at your disposal?
Archives keep a description and record of documents on various media.
As the modern world moves to electronic document management, we also store documents created in electronic format. Last year, we implemented a pilot project that confirmed the technological possibility of archives to store documents that never existed in paper form. Such documents, which appeared in electronic format, will be stored and used only digitally.
Archives are replenished by people
Can the fund-raising initiative come from below? And how should archivists react to this?
Yes, the fund creation initiative can also come from below. If you have a collection of documents, you can contact the archive through their website or directly. For example, a defender of Ukraine from a certain region who wants to transfer a photo album or memories can submit a corresponding application.
The key stage in the archival case is the examination of the value. Each archive has a special commission, which includes not only archivists, but also historians and other specialists. The commission considers the value of the documents and decides whether they should be accepted in full or selectively.
After the examination, acts of transfer of documents are signed, and an important event is the transfer of materials from personal property to state property. From this moment on, the state assumes the obligation to store documents. The transmitter has the ability to influence certain aspects, for example, to set restrictions on access to documents for a certain period of time or to determine the conditions for their display. This is his right, and the archive must take it into account.
What about oral history?
When it comes to oral history, the procedure remains similar. It doesn’t matter.
The transferred information source is subject to an examination of the value, after which a decision is made on its further storage. The archive can create a separate fund for such materials or form a collection, for example, “Defenders of Luhansk Region”.
Not all state-making documents are kept in Ukraine
What is the state of preservation of documents of state-building importance, say, from the time of the Cossacks, or from the time of the Ukrainian People’s Republic?
It is obvious that, unfortunately, Ukrainian archives are looted not only in the 21st century. Since the 18th century, the Russian Empire has actively pursued a policy of looting our archives. One of the vivid examples is the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk, also known as the Bender Constitution. This important document, which has several editions written in Old Ukrainian and Latin languages, has not survived in Ukraine, although it is key to our nation-building. Some historians consider it not only the first constitution in Ukraine, but also in Europe, although this question remains debatable.
The Latin version of the Constitution is kept in the National Archives of Sweden. And it is properly preserved there, because it was written by Philip Orlyk for his ally Charles XII. This project has been sent to the office. After traveling through Europe, the Swedish king returned to Sweden, and the document entered the national archive.
Photo/kyiv24.news
Unfortunately, the Ukrainian copy was stolen. One of Catherine II’s favorites found him and sent him to St. Petersburg to show his “curiosity” to his mother. This is confirmed by a cover letter. Ukrainian documents have been plundered for centuries: the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union moved funds to Moscow and St. Petersburg. For example, key documents on the Second World War and on participants, on Ukrainian Red Army soldiers are difficult to find in Ukraine, as they are kept in the archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
On the other hand, many documents have returned. For example, the documents of the Central Rada, the Ukrainian People’s Republic, the Ukrainian state of Hetman Skoropadsky and the events of the Ukrainian revolution of 1917-1921, which were initially in political exile in Europe, then with the arrival of the Red Army in Prague were removed, moved in different ways and were later returned to Ukrainian archives. At first they were classified, but with the beginning of Ukrainian independence they became available and are currently being digitized as a priority.
In 2017, government-approved events commemorating the Ukrainian revolution took place in the country. But at that time all these documents were not digitized. Now we have digitized a lot of them – hundreds of thousands of documents. If historians had these documents in time, these events would have taken place on a completely different meaningful level.
What documents are key to national memory?
Among the 86 million storage units in the archives, there are 457 documents that are recognized as unique for national memory. These are, in particular, birch certificates, the Third Universal of the Central Rada on independence, the Testament of Hetman Skoropadsky and other documents of Ukrainian hetmans of the XVII-XVIII centuries. This list also includes the Act of Proclamation of Independence of Ukraine in 1991 and the original Constitution of 1996. These documents reflect the contribution of the Ukrainian people to the world cultural heritage.
Where can I read the list of these documents?
The list of unique documents can be found on the website of the State Archive Service of Ukraine under the heading “Unique documents”. All of them are available in high quality and we are constantly updating this section. Recently, a particularly interesting document was added to the list – the archival criminal case of a Kyivan who was convicted by the Soviet authorities for storing pieces of bread during the Holodomor. He kept this surrogate bread to show posterity,
He was reported and sentenced for it. And in the envelope of the archival criminal case there are these pieces of bread. This document is special because there are very few such examples and they are iconic to our history.
We continue to digitize documents. We are in a hurry. We simply do not have time, because we have a threat from the aggressor country.
