How to make a request to the archive about relatives? Archive request - sample. Archive: how to make a request related to restoring family ties and creating a family tree

What do people do when it becomes necessary to restore lost information of a different nature or simply find out socially significant information (this can be data about relatives, obtaining copies of lost documents, restoring information about work, awards, location of people or institutions and other reference information)? Of course, they go to the archive. However, in order to do this, it is important to know which archive you need, and how to make a request to the archive. This is what we will talk about in this article.

A little about archives
Let's start with the fact that the archive is a public (less often private) institution, in which, under certain conditions that guarantee maximum security, official documents are stored. At the same time, the archive is engaged not only in responsible storage, but also provides the available information to both government bodies and citizens.

The archival work appeared in time immemorial. This is evidenced by historical findings confirming that all civilizations that have reached a certain level of development had state archives. Documents have survived to this day from the archives of Babylon, Egypt, the Assyrian kingdom, Ancient Rome (there was not only the archive of the Senate and consuls, but also the archive of priests, as well as individual archives of famous families), Byzantium, Ancient Greece, as well as from the archives of medieval Europe ... It must be said that many thousands of years ago the archives were subdivided according to the territorial principle: into central archives and depositories and those that were in the provinces. In Europe, there were first archives of suzerains and vassals, and then - city and church archives.

Contemporary archives
Today the archives are funded on a regional and departmental basis. This means that the documents stored in them, which are handed over to organizations, and the information pertains to a specific territory (region, city, district) or department, for example, the Ministry of Defense (which also has central and regional archives).

All archives are divided into:

• federal, government, state, current, historical;
  
• municipal and city;
  
• public, private, community.
  

Individuals and organizations, as well as authorities (such requests, as a rule, are of an official nature) and persons living abroad (such requests are called consular), can make a request to the archive regarding the receipt of this or that information.

In addition, the archives are not always asked for information concerning a particular individual; they also often request historical documents. This is done by those who need them by their occupation, for example, screenwriters, writers, scientists. Archival documents are often used when writing dissertations or scientific papers. In the case when documents are needed for writing a scientific work, in addition to a passport and an application for their provision, you will also need a document from the organization where the applicant studies or works, confirming his status and topic of work.

Where exactly do you need to contact?
Often, when going to request some documents or information from the archive, people do not know exactly where they need to go. It all depends on what specifically interests you. For example, you can get general civil information (date, place of birth, death, marriage) in the archive of the regional registry office. But here it should be borne in mind that documents are stored in the district archive for a maximum of seventy-five years, so if you are interested in earlier information, you will have to contact the regional archive of the registry office, where all documents from the districts are transferred. If we are talking about restoring entries in a work book, then you need to contact departmental archives, for example, the Russian State Military Archives (if we are talking about military personnel or civilian personnel) or territorial archives in those settlements or regions where the enterprise is located where a man worked. For information on sailors, contact the Central Naval Archives. If you are looking for information about someone, but do not know where to start looking for information, then it is better to contact the district or city archive at the place of the alleged stay or work of this person.

You can also use the online guide to Russian archives - guides.rusarchives.ru. There you can search 49 regional archives and 31 federal ones. You can also go to the official website of Rosarkhiv.

Archival requests: classification and deadlines
As for archive requests, they are all divided into:

• thematic - these are requests for information that relate to a specific event, fact or topic; by making such a request, you can establish information that clarifies the facts of the biography of a particular person;
  
• genealogical - such requests imply the receipt of information that will allow you to establish kinship or clarify the history of a particular family or clan;
  
• social and legal - such requests, as a rule, are associated with obtaining information that is needed to comply with the legal rights and interests of individuals or organizations; social and legal ones include service inquiries from authorities, consular inquiries, as well as inquiries from legal entities and individuals (the latter may relate to health status, wages, length of service, military service, education, the use of repression, awards, acts of civil state and other).
  

Archival requests are executed in accordance with the established procedure, which is clearly spelled out in Federal Law No. 125-FZ "On Archival Affairs in the Russian Federation". This means that thirty days may pass from the moment the request is received and registered until the response is received. This period may be extended by the decision of the archive management, but not more than by another thirty days. In this case, the employees of the archive, where the request was received, are obliged to notify the applicant about the extension of the deadline for the execution of the request.

But there are situations when people, without understanding, submit a request to the wrong address. In this case, it will be recognized as non-core and sent as an item to another archive within five days from the date of receipt. In this case, the employees of the archive must notify the applicant about forwarding the request and indicate the address of another archive.

Making a request
To make a request to the archive, you need to draw up a free-form application, since there are no strict requirements in this regard (although some institutions offer their own form to applicants). But there are a number of points that must be reflected in the document. So, in the "header" (it is written in the upper right corner of the sheet) we indicate:

• to whom the request is sent (you can indicate the name of the organization and the full name of its head);
  
• Name and address of the applicant;
  
• contact phone number of the applicant;
  
• outgoing number, details of the institution, legal address (these data are indicated if the request is submitted by a legal entity).
  

This is followed by the name of the document: "Application", but you can also write it like this: "On receiving an archive certificate." After the name, you should indicate:

• what the request is about (here it is important to clearly, concretely and understandably state the essence of the issue, as well as indicate the time and territorial framework, which are very important, for example, when looking for relatives);
  
• the reason for the information requested;
  
• the address to which the response to the request should be sent (this can also be e-mail);
  
• the date of the request;
  
• signature of an individual, executive officer or director of the institution (if the request is submitted by the organization).
  

How do I submit a request?
A request to the archive can be submitted in several ways: personally (bring an application and register it by providing your passport), send it by registered mail with a notification, via the Internet (in the latter case, a notification from the archive will be sent to the e-mail address about the receipt of the request).

What do the archives give out?
In response to the request, the archive issues either an archival reference, which contains information related to the subject of the request, or an archive extract with the extraction of the contents of the original archival document, or an archive copy of the requested document.

And if there is no information on the request in the archive, then the applicant will receive a letter in which the reasons for the lack of documents and recommendations for further actions will be stated.

If you need to find relatives, restore a lost birth certificate or study historical documents for writing a dissertation, you just need to make a request to the archive, having correctly drawn up an application.

Individuals and organizations, as well as authorities (such requests, as a rule, are of an official nature) and persons living abroad (such requests are called consular), can make a request to the archive regarding the receipt of this or that information. In addition, the archives are not always asked for information concerning a particular individual; they also often request historical documents. This is done by those who need them by their occupation, for example, screenwriters, writers, scientists. Archival documents are often used when writing dissertations or scientific papers. In the case when documents are needed for writing a scientific work, in addition to a passport and an application for their provision, you will also need a document from the organization where the applicant studies or works, confirming his status and topic of work.

How to make a request to the registry office

Full name of the applicant

• applicant's address and passport details
• the address of the closest registry office to the applicant
• required document
• Full name, for whom this document should be issued
• date of entry
• purpose of obtaining a document
• Re-issuance of documents by the registry office is subject to a state fee: for example, today a certificate from the archive will cost 50 rubles, and a new marriage certificate - 100 rubles. How to make a request to the registry office for marriage via the Internet Request to the registry office via the Internet is most often made by potential newlyweds who want to book the date of marriage registration.
  To make a request to the registry office about marriage via the Internet, you must use the services of the website of state services of your region. Such services provide an opportunity to choose a convenient date and time of the wedding, provided that it is not busy.

How to make a request to a registry office in another city?

I was puzzled - how sideways my ex-husband and I belong to the Kursk region, if we have never been there. I called my registry office - it turned out that they had the certificate, and by mistake they almost sent me to the Kursk region.

I came to the registry office, wrote an application for the issuance of this certificate. The certificate was issued free of charge - they do not take money for registration of a pension.

Drafting a request To make a request to the archive, you need to draw up a free-form application, since there are no strict requirements on this matter (although some institutions offer applicants their own form). But there are a number of points that must be reflected in the document.

So, in the "header" (it is written in the upper right corner of the sheet) we indicate:

• to whom the request is sent (you can indicate the name of the organization and the full name of its head);
• Name and address of the applicant;
• contact phone number of the applicant;
• outgoing number, details of the institution, legal address (these data are indicated if the request is submitted by a legal entity). This is followed by the name of the document: "Application", but you can also write it like this: "On receiving an archive certificate."

How to make various requests to the registry office and archival institutions

Attention

But I always write by paper mail, then the chances of getting an answer are even greater. But if by e-mail, then it is best to send a scan of the request with a signature, then in second place is the application in the Verdov attachment, and there in the heading “to the head of such and such a registry office”, then in the middle “Application”, then “Please provide ...”, the date.

I also put the outgoing number of the letter, but this is my quirk. In paper form, they answered my inquiries, which I wrote in free form.
Best regards, Sergei. Top il16 Beginner Posts: 47 Registration: Nov 22 2009Rating: 11 December 25, 2009 8:40 ## mod970 And yet this is still only "IMHO", which coincides with the opinion of a few ... especially those who are used to sitting on a chair and emphasizing their importance ... I wrote about this above. One of the options for this resolution of the issue could be a massive digitization of archives, starting with the books of civil registrations.

Communication with the registry office archive on the territory of the Russian Federation

Such a form, for example, was given to me in the Orsk city registry office. It is valid and valid. The request is sent to the registry office at the place of birth, death, marriage registration.
The document comes to your regional or city registry office, where you, having paid the fee, take the certificate you need. Remember, no one will send you an extract to the postal address! Sometimes you do not know where to make a request, this should not become an obstacle for you, because many government services can redirect you to one or another office or organization.

Important

My advice to you: do not be afraid, write, someone will answer, because the search is a long, painstaking business that requires patience and many years of work. Sometimes the big picture is made up of very insignificant details.

After the name, you should indicate:

• what the request is about (here it is important to clearly, concretely and understandably state the essence of the issue, as well as indicate the time and territorial framework, which are very important, for example, when looking for relatives);
• the reason for the information requested;
• the address to which the response to the request should be sent (this can also be e-mail);
• the date of the request;
• signature of an individual, executive officer or director of the institution (if the request is submitted by the organization). How do I submit a request? A request to the archive can be submitted in several ways: personally (bring an application and register it by providing your passport), send it by registered mail with a notification, via the Internet (in the latter case, a notification from the archive will be sent to the e-mail address about the receipt of the request).

How to make a request to the archive about relatives? archive request - sample

Ryazan region Tishkins, Schepelevs, Lazarevs, Avdeevs. From the Tambov region Morshansky district of the Klimakins, the Kostnikovs.

From Moscow region Molchanovs Top NoTA Forum long-liver V. Novgorod Posts: 779 Registration: 4 Aug. 2009Rating: 521 January 3, 2010 14:59 ## iozhka iozhka wrote: [q] An extract from the registration book is NOT a reference? If you request an extract, will it be the most informative? In principle, you can request in any form (certificate, repeat certificate or formulate a request in "free form"), but the answer is sent, as a rule, in the form of a certificate (or rep.

But the certificate does not completely duplicate the record from the book, they will give out the information that corresponds to the information in the certificate of the requested period. So, unfortunately, it's not worth hoping that you will be told everything that is written in the registration book ...

There are exceptions, though.

In order to obtain a repeated certificate of state registration of a civil status act or another document confirming the fact of state registration of a civil status act, it is necessary to apply personally or in writing to the civil registry office at the place of registration of the civil status act. If the first copy of the civil status act has not survived, a repeated certificate of state registration of the civil status act is issued by the executive authority of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation, which contains the second copy of the civil status act.

In this case, if the state registration of the civil status act was carried out in the bodies of the Civil Registry Office of the Kurgan region, the repeated document is issued by the Office of the Civil Registry Office of the Kurgan region.

To the registry office from the last name, first name, patronymic of the resident (s) at the address, an identity document series number issued by "" d. APPLICATION I ask you to issue a repeated certificate of marriage / divorce (underline the required) last name, first name, patronymic at the time of marriage / divorce and surname, first name, patronymic at the time of marriage / divorce Place of state registration name of the registry office Date of state registration ""

signature Or like this: Form No. 18 Approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 31, 1998 No. 1274 In the registry office from the surname, name, patronymic of the resident (s) at the address, identity document series No. issued ""

How to correctly make a request to the registry office via the Internet to an email address

Objections of the type - "YOU are aware of what a TITANIC work this is!" and "How much money is needed for this!" I think it is inappropriate. The age of high technologies ... Anyway, we will soon come to this.

The question is about the timing only because of the all-round resistance of disinterested persons who will lay their bones in order not to do this. mod970 I can not imagine that people who are engaged in pedigree will rush to the REGISTRY OFFICES without permission there to make changes, delete and erase in books 75 or 90 years old ... And even more so that everyone who wants to rush there.

Even despite the growing interest in the search for their roots, there is no need to talk about some kind of boom when crowds of citizens rush through the archives and registry offices. Moderator's comment: two posts running in a row, with a gap of seven minutes, are combined. Top iozhka Beginner Moscow Posts: 47

Archive is a state institution that ensures the safety of documents, favorable conditions for their use, provides information to state authorities and local governments, and also satisfies the information needs of the population. And obtaining the information necessary to protect the personal interests of citizens is our inalienable right. Consider the stages that a person goes through when they contact the archive.

What kind of requests are there?

There are three types of queries:

• thematic- requests for information on a specific problem, topic, event or fact. For example, a biographical request, according to which the information necessary for studying the life of a particular person is established, the facts of his biography are specified;
• genealogical- requests expressing the need for documentary information establishing kinship, kinship of two or more persons, family history, clan;
• socio-legal- requests of a specific person or organization related to ensuring their rights and legitimate interests. They are divided into three groups:
  • of an official nature from the legislative and executive authorities;
  • from individuals and legal entities;
  • requests from Russian and foreign citizens and stateless persons living abroad, the so-called consular.

For us, the most interesting will be social and legal inquiries from individuals and legal entities. According to the Rules for organizing storage, acquisition, accounting and use of documents from the Archive Fund of the Russian Federation, social and legal inquiries include requests for confirmation:

• seniority and salary,
• service in military units and formations,
• about the state of health,
• awarding, conferring titles,
• getting education,
• the use of repression,
• about acts of civil status, etc.

Example 1

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For example, after analyzing the work record of an employee who is accepted for a managerial and responsible position, the company will want to make sure that the employee really had work experience in a large company. If the company was liquidated in accordance with the procedure established by law (including as a result of bankruptcy proceedings) or was transformed by a method involving the transfer of personnel documents to the archive, the employer can contact the archive with a corresponding request.

Not uncommon - hassle with the preparation of documents related to the appointment of pensions to employees.

Free and paid services

The archive fulfills all social and legal inquiries free of charge. But there are also exceptions:

• if you need to fulfill the request urgently (within 1-5 days from the date of application);
• issue a duplicate or reissue an archival certificate to replace the one lost or damaged through the fault of the applicant (except for documented accidents);
• to make several copies of the archival certificate at the request of the applicant;
• make a request for work experience and wages for a period over 5 years (60 months in a row);
• make a request for property rights.

There is no charge for service in the reading room of the archive (with the exception of services not provided for by the Rules for the work of users in the reading rooms of the state archives of the Russian Federation).

The range of paid works and services performed by archives is established by the Federal Archival Service of Russia. On this basis, the archive can develop a more detailed list, which is approved by the director. In addition, the archive can independently determine the categories of legal entities and individuals (pensioners, disabled people, orphanages, etc.) for which works and services are carried out on preferential terms.

Terms of execution of the request

According to the Basic Rules for the Archives of Organizations (approved by the decision of the Rosarkhiv Collegium of 06.02.2002) the term for the execution of requests of a social and legal nature according to the documents of the archive should not exceed 30 days from the date of registration of the request... With the permission of the archive management, this period can be extended, if necessary, but no more than 30 days with the obligatory notification of the applicant about this. If, after the expiration of the established time frame, no response is received, it is necessary to contact the archival management body of the given region with a request, for whatever reason, the directed appeal was not executed.

Requests are executed in accordance with the procedure for using documents from the Archival Fund of the Russian Federation established by Federal Law No. 125-FZ of 22.10.2004 "On archival affairs in the Russian Federation", Federal Law of 20.02.1995 No. 24-FZ "On information, informatization and information protection ".

If your request is deemed non-core, then its transfer to other archives or organizations must be carried out within 5 days from the date of receipt of the request to the archive, and you must be informed about this.

Where to contact?

Firstly, which archive you should contact depends on the scale of the organization you are interested in: if you need information about a person who works (worked) in an institution of federal subordination, you should contact the federal archives; republican, regional, regional subordination - to the state archives of the corresponding region; city ​​and district subordination - to the municipal archives.

Example 2

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If you need to request information about a person who worked at a liquidated state enterprise in Moscow, then you need to contact the Central State Archive of Documents on the personnel of liquidated state enterprises, institutions and organizations in Moscow.

If a person worked at an enterprise of municipal subordination or in a non-governmental organization, then the search for documents should begin with the archive of the city or district. With commercial organizations, there are difficulties associated with the lack of legal mechanisms for reclaiming the transfer of documents to state storage.

To find out which archive to refer to, you can use the website www.rusarchives.ru. There is also an Internet guide to Russian archives www.guides.rusarchives.ru, which allows you to search through 31 federal and 49 regional archives and includes about 140 thousand archival funds containing socio-political, historical, military, economic and other the documents.

How to write a request?

There are no strict requirements for the request, the application is drawn up in free form, but addressed to the director of the archive. Necessarily, regardless of the type of request, the following data must be specified:

• surname, first name, patronymic of the person of interest at the present time and necessarily the surname in the requested period (indicate the year of the change of the surname, if it took place);
• the address to which you want to send the archive response;
• your contact phone number;
• about what and for what purpose the information is requested.

Here are the most common queries and explain what must be specified in each of them in order to make it possible to execute such a query:

In general, some archives accept not only social and legal inquiries drawn up on paper, but also sent by e-mail, and some even by phone.

Example 3

sample application for obtaining an archive salary certificate

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Example 4

Sample letter of request from a legal entity (sample form)

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Archive transcript

Most often, the applicant receives a response to the request in the form of an archive certificate, less often - an archive extract or a copy of a document.

According to GOST R 51141-98 “Office work and archival work. Terms and Definitions" archive transcript - This is an official document of the archive, containing information from archival documents related to the subject of the request, indicating the addresses of the documents.

Let's consider several references that are issued for the most popular queries.

The archival certificate of proof of seniority includes data for the time for which there is information in the archive documents: the exact name of the position occupied by the citizen and the period of his work (see Example 5) are given. Personnel records, questionnaires, autobiographies, handwritten by a citizen, on which there are no marks on the verification of the information contained in them on the basis of the submitted original documents or certificates, cannot serve as a basis for issuing archival certificates of work experience (if necessary, this information is communicated in writing) ... Only orders for the main activity, personal accounts, check books, membership cards of trade unions are used as documents confirming work experience.

A certificate for the appointment or recalculation of a pension includes information in the manner determined by the body that provides pension provision to citizens. Information about earnings is included in the certificate as they are set out in the documents of the archive. The data are presented separately for each year without summation within the year. The archive does not calculate the average monthly and average annual earnings. In the absence of documents on wages, the official salary can be established on the basis of the organization's staffing table for the relevant period, other payments - on the basis of orders on personnel issues or on core activities.

In the certificate of education, in the absence of information about the graduation of a citizen from an educational institution in the documents, it is indicated in which course or in which class he studied.

When executing repeated requests or drawing up, at the request of a citizen (organization), a certificate similar to that previously issued, the archive checks the compliance of the information included in this certificate with those that are in the documents, and if additional information is found, it includes them in the re-issued archive certificate.

Example 5

Sample Archived Reference

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If the archive does not contain the documents necessary for the execution of the request, a response is drawn up on the archive form, stating the reasons for the absence of documents containing the requested information, and the necessary recommendations are given. When preparing “negative” answers, archivists try to avoid phrasing like “no documents were received for storage in the archive,” usually the applicant is given recommendations on how to find the necessary information or the reason for the lack of archival documents on the subject of the request is explained. In the case of documented facts of loss of archival documents containing the requested information, the archive may (but is not obliged) to issue a certificate of the reasons for their loss, if necessary, certified by the seal of the archive.

It should be noted that the text in the archival reference is given in a chronological sequence of events; in some cases, it reproduces quotations from archival documents. After the text of the reference, the search data of the documents that served as the basis for its compilation are indicated (numbers of funds, inventories, cases, sheets of the document). It should be noted that the text in the archive reference is given in a chronological sequence of events, in some cases it reproduces quotations from archival documents. After the text of the reference, the search data of the documents are indicated, which served as the basis for its compilation (numbers of funds, inventories, cases, document sheets).

In general, it is quite difficult to unify the form of archive information, as well as the form of writing a request. However, there are Recommendations for the preparation of archival references and responses to standard inquiries of a social and legal nature issued by archival institutions of the Russian Federation (letter of Rosarkhiv dated March 14, 2005 No. 6/486-K). The Guidelines provide 12 examples of archived references for several different situations.

Copies of the archival certificate (without a stamp and seal) are certified by the head of the archive and remain in the record keeping of the archive.

Note that archival references differ in the name of the document type "ARCHIVAL REFERENCE" from other references, which are simply referred to as "REFERENCE".

Commercial companies also have the right to issue archival certificates, archival extracts, but provided that they have an archive in the form of a separate division. Otherwise, they will be limited to ordinary certificates, extracts and copies.

According to the Basic Rules for the Archives of Organizations, approved by the decision of the Rosarkhiv Collegium dated 06.02.2002 and mandatory for all non-governmental organizations, the archive is created as an independent structural subdivision of an organization or a subdivision as part of the document management (office work) service, which receives and stores archival documents from purpose of use. Certificates identical to the original archival copies and extracts are certified by the signature of the head of the organization or a person authorized by him (the head of the department that includes the archive) and the official seal of the organization.

Archival extract and archival copy

On the archive extract and the archive copy, the corresponding designations are made - "ARCHIVAL EXTRACT" or "ARCHIVAL COPY". They are drawn up on an archive form, but the archive form is not used when making xero- and photocopies of archival documents.

When issuing an extract, the name of the original document, its number and date are reproduced in full (see Example 6). The content of the archive extract of the document must meet the request. The coherence of the content and the precise meaning of each extract from the text of the documents must not be violated. At the beginning and at the end of each extract from the document, as well as in places where individual words are omitted, an ellipsis is put. One archive extract may contain extracts from only one document.

Attention! Certain words and expressions of the original document that raise doubts about their reliability should be specified with the words: "so in the document."

Archival copies and extracts are certified by the signature of the head of the archive and the official seal of the organization.

Example 6

Sample archive extract

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After the text of the archive extract, the archival code and sheet numbers of the storage unit of the archive document are indicated, which served as the basis for issuing this extract (see Example 6).

The archive copy completely repeats the requested document. Archive codes and sheet numbers of the storage units of the archival document are put on the back.

All sheets of an archival copy or extract must be bound, numbered and certified by the head of the archives at the places of binding.

Information documents prepared by the archive, archival copies and extracts are sent to the applicant by regular letter.

If you have transferred documents to the custody of a third party

Let's say your company has transferred its documents for safekeeping to a third-party organization that professionally provides such services. Such services are provided not only by commercial archives, but also by state / municipal ones. The owner of the documents continues to be the company in whose territory the documents are no longer located. Who, in this case, has the right to issue archival certificates: the custodian or the owner?

According to article 892 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation of 01.26.1996 No.14-FZ, the custodian is not entitled to use the thing transferred for storage without the consent of the depositor, as well as provide the opportunity to use it to third parties, except for cases when the use of the stored thing is necessary to ensure its safety and does not contradict storage agreement. Therefore, if you want to delegate to the custodian the authority to issue certificates for social and legal inquiries and save your time, then stipulate this condition in the outsourcing agreement. Otherwise, the owner company will deal with the documents itself: if necessary, you will have to request the previously removed documents to the office, deal with them and draw up an archive certificate, since the issue of confidentiality of information is still more priority.

Footnotes

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Hello dear readers! Last month I published a whole series of articles devoted to the history of the formation of the archival system in Russia. Enough theory! Today we'll practice a little. Let's say you set out to get some information about your ancestors or past events. But where can I get it? After all, contemporaries of the events of a century or more ago can not be found. Even about the life of contemporaries it is not always possible to learn from a personal conversation.

The reasons may vary. But there is a way out - you can contact a request to the archive... Unfortunately, archivists do not always answer them. One of the reasons is an incorrectly composed request. Let's figure out how to do it right.

Determining the type of request

• Want to get acquainted with the biography of an ancestor, get historical information, etc. - you need more thematic inquiry.
• If you are interested in the history of a whole family or clan at once, if you want to know whether you are a relative or not, we create genealogical inquiry.
• If you need material to ensure the legitimate interests or rights of someone - social and legal request (service; from an individual or legal entity;consular - from foreigners to Russian archives, from Russians - to foreign).

Making a request

1. We write to the director of the archive.
2. We indicate information about ourselves or the organization on behalf of which the request is being created.
3. We indicate the return address and contact phone number. Otherwise, where will they answer you?
4. Let us formulate the question clearly and concisely in a free form. The more specific you define the essence of the problem, the more chances you will get exactly the information you expect. And get the answer sooner.
5. In order to speed up the work of the archive staff and get the necessary information, we indicate the time and place as accurate as possible. What territory did people live in or where did the events that interest you take place? What time was it?

Now you need to decide where to send your request.

• If you need to find out the date of birth, death or marriage, we contact Registry office of the district... But only on condition that more than 75 years have not passed.
• If you need to establish an exact date, more than 75 years have passed since then - we send the request to state regional archive.
• If you want to know about a relative's work, achievements, awards, merits, please contact organization archive where he was. If your relative was a military man, contact the Russian State Military Archives, if a sailor, contact the Central Naval Archives.

Why is there no answer

If you did not respond within 3 months, you may have used too vague wording, and the archive staff simply cannot complete the work, transferring your request from department to department. Or he's just lost. In any case, you can send your request again.

Features cooperation with archives

Making a request to the archive will be useful not only when you are looking for relatives. This will come in handy if you are writing a diploma, doctoral dissertation, or any other scientific work... To get access to historical documents, in your scientific institution you need to submit to the archive "Attitude" where the organization that sent you to the archive and the subject of the request will be noted.

Contacting on your own initiative - they will only ask passport... Receive the application form to fill out on the spot.

Some services can only be obtained for a fee eg scan, photocopy, printout. Sometimes you also have to pay extra for the urgency of preparing documents.

Gathering information about events and people of the past, we sometimes face difficulties. But the more difficult the path we have passed, the more satisfaction we will get from the result.

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9 comments in “ How to compose a request to the archive?”

1. Inga

   Despite the fact that I have repeatedly sent requests in the archive, it was interesting to read. By the way, in St. Petersburg, I received answers to inquiries 6-8 months after sending. So the answers can be expected for a very long time.

   Lena, do you have experience in sending inquiries to other countries that were formerly our republics? Baltics, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, etc.? After all, our people traveled around the country so much that very often it is necessary to contact the former fraternal republics. I sent a request to Belarus - no one answered ... = ((

2. admin post author

   Hello Inga! You are right, sometimes you can wait more than 6 months for answers to inquiries. It is better to send by registered mail, so at least you will be sure that the request has been received by the archive. With our mail, my letter only went there for 3 months. I haven’t had any experience of inquiries to other countries yet, now I’m preparing a request to the State Archives of the Chernigov Region of Ukraine (as it turned out, my ancestors moved to the Far East from the Chernigov province at the end of the 19th century), I’ll definitely tell on my blog what will come of it. The last issue of our magazine was also devoted to the archives.

3. Natalia Melnikova

   Thanks for the information! Just the other day I started thinking about the origin of my surname and my ancestors! Your blog came in handy!

4. Yulchatka

   I have never addressed to the archives, but the desire arises more and more often, because there are too many "blank spots" in the history of our family. Thanks for the advice))

5. Victoria

   Lena, hello!

   Tell me how to write the same genealogical request - what is the structure of its writing, what information should be indicated there about yourself and your family so that the request is not ignored? I live in Ukraine, and most of my roots are in Russia (Novgorod, Tver regions).

   The idea of ​​making such a request has been around for a long time, but how to implement it in practice (all the more, another state - there may be other requirements) - I don’t know.

   I would be grateful if at least tell me where this information can be found.

   With sincere wishes of all the best to you and your family!

6. Maria

   Hello! Can you help me? I just don't know who to turn to. The fact is that I had a great-grandfather on my mother's side. According to the stories of my grandfather, who is no longer alive, his father (my great-grandfather) was from Moscow, at least he lived there before the revolution, his parents owned a shoe factory, and he himself served in the tsarist army, had awards, but that's where served by whom, we do not know. After the revolution, he left for Siberia, hid there, married a simple woman there, worked as a simple shoemaker, and died there. So, I have a question, can I find out something about him through the archive, but I know almost nothing specifically, not his date of birth, only approximately, not the exact place of birth, only Moscow, I don’t know anything about his parents, only his father's name and the fact that they had a shoe factory. I also know the year of birth of my great-grandfather’s sister, but I don’t know anything else. Well, it is also assumed that he participated in the First World War, and then served in the Trans-Baikal Territory, the city of Verkhneudinsk, now renamed Ulan-Ude, it seems that he remained there when the revolution took place. So, please tell me, is it possible, on the basis of these data, without knowing the exact dates, to go to the archive? Will they search? or is it not enough? I would like to know when and where my great-grandfather was born, and if possible, then his parents. Find out where they lived, and at least something about them. And where, in this case, it is better for me to contact, to which archive to write, I do not live in Moscow. Whether they require proof that I am a relative, I can only show my grandfather's birth certificate, there are no other documents. Sorry if I wrote a lot. Thanks.

7. Helena

   Hello Inga. You do not tell me if I do not know where my grandmother was born, I only know where and when she died, where I can make a request to find out her parents, raising the metric record, probably. I know everything about my grandfather's sister and her husband, and that there was a child who now lives in Tallinn, but I don’t know his name and date of birth, only the last name Renwald, how to find it? What can I try in my hopeless situations?

Hello dear readers. Since the topic of searching for their ancestors has become popular in recent years, many have “fired up” with the desire to create their own family tree, to write a family encyclopedia or a book of life of a kind. I must say right away that there are a lot of resources on which you can find recommendations for this work, you just need to ask a search in Yandex or Google, such as "how to create your own pedigree", "how to create a pedigree book".

On our resource, too.

But now, briefly about where to get material for the genealogy book. After interviewing relatives, and “rustling” through the family archives, it's time to go to the archive. And the simplest thing is to go to the state archive of the regional center in which you live. In the archive, with a well-developed algorithm for working with family historians, you will be interviewed. Do not be alarmed! This is to determine how prepared you are for working in the archive.

What kind of explorer-search engine am I? Determine the degree of our readiness to work

It is quite obvious that if you are going to the archive for the first time, and you just have a burning desire to find information about ancestors, then you are poorly prepared to work in the archive. By the way, you will not be allowed to the funds. Only to the reading room. But historical documents will fall into the hands. And you need to know how to work with them.

Don't you feel the strength to work with archives on your own?

Make a genealogical inquiry, and the archivists will find the information they need on their own.

What request should I make?

The requests received by the archives are subdivided into thematic, genealogical and socio-legal requests.
Subject request - a request for information on a specific issue, topic, event or fact. A kind of a thematic request is a biographical request, according to which the information necessary to study the life of a particular person is established, the facts of his biography are clarified.
Genealogical query is a query expressing the need for documentary information that establishes kinship, kinship of two or more persons, family history, clan.
A request of a social and legal nature is a request from a specific person or organization related to ensuring the rights and legitimate interests of citizens.

What requests should the archive respond to?
The archive is obliged to answer not all requests, but only those, when writing which certain rules are followed. The request must contain:

information about who wrote it - the name of the organization or the surname, name and patronymic of the citizen,
mailing address so that your request can be answered by mail,
topic - that is, it should be clearly formulated what exactly you want to know, just retell the story of your family and express a desire that you would like to know something else, it is useless, you need a specific question,
the chronological framework of the requested information - it is pointless to ask to find all carriers of your surname in all documents of the archive, but it is quite acceptable to ask to do this for a specific region and chronological period.

The archives will most likely simply not respond to requests that do not meet these conditions. They are obliged to answer the rest of the requests, but sometimes strange cases happen - one archive, for example, could not answer the requests, because due to the difficult financial situation it did not have envelopes (this is a completely real case).

Archivists won't praise me, but I'll still give you a little advice.

After you have sent your request, it makes sense to call the archive and find out if your request has been received, and then call again and again to find out how you are doing. I repeat, this is from the category of "bad advice", but it really helps.

The deadlines for the execution of a thematic or genealogical request will be set by prior agreement with you - they depend on the complexity of finding the necessary information.
We write the request to the director of the archive. There is no strict request form, the main thing is that everything is written clearly.
Do not rush and ask to draw up a pedigree for you, move gradually.
You write a letter like this:
Director of the archive of such and such
Address
From (your name and address)
Statement

I, (full name), (if you assume that you can be provided with benefits, write this right away, that is, a war veteran, mother of many children, personal pensioner, etc.) I ask you to help me in a genealogical search (if you think that this can be considered as a thematic request or a request of a socially legal nature, write about it here, for this you need to indicate the reason for the search, for example, in connection with the issue of inheritance).
My (degree of relationship) (full name), (such and such) religion, was born in such and such a settlement on such and such a date on such and such a year, which is indicated in (such and such a document, for example, in a marriage certificate). Please, using the registers of births available in your archive or other funds, inform me about his parents and send copies of the available documents. I guarantee payment (you can omit this item, some archives fulfill some of the requests for free).
Sincerely
Full name
Date.

And now the “if” explanations
1) If you do not know exactly when your ancestor was born, you can be less specific, then you need to write: “according to family legend, he was born in such and such a locality in about such and such a year” and, accordingly, in the application, ask to specify the date of birth ...

2) If your ancestor lived not in a village, but in a city, especially in a large one where there were many church parishes, it is advisable to know his address (then, most likely, he was a parishioner of the parish closest to his place of residence). Maybe the archive will agree to view the details of all parishes, but it will be very expensive.

3) If a non-core request is received (for example, you mixed up Veliky and Nizhny Novgorod and sent the letter to the wrong place), the archive sends it to the required archive or writes in the reply that you were mistaken, explaining where to go. According to the law, the response to a non-core request should not be more than 5 days from the date of receipt of the request in the archive.
The requests of organizations and citizens are considered by the archive management, sent for execution to the appropriate department or directly to the performer, and must be executed on all documents and printed publications stored in the archive related to the subject of the request.
When a non-core request is received, the archive sends it to the place of storage of the requested documents or gives appropriate recommendations to organizations and citizens.
The archive carries out work on the execution of thematic requests of users in the order of rendering paid services (including on the basis of a contract) or free of charge. The terms and cost of work on the execution of user requests are agreed with them - pay attention to this point, you must be told in advance how much you will have to pay.
If it is necessary to conduct a search for a significant set of documents and organize their copying, the archive informs the user in writing about the intermediate results of the work.

Still have questions?

On the website of the Federal Archival Agency, there are still answers to questions related to requests for restoring family ties and creating a family tree.

There is no time and confidence that you can handle it, hire private genealogist