State Archival Service of Ukraine

State Archival Service of Ukraine [Державна архівна служба України; Derzhavna arkhivna sluzhba Ukraїny, or Укрдержархів; Ukrderzharkhiv]. The central management body for archival matters in Ukraine, established in its present form in December 2010 as a result of a merger of the State Committee on Archives of Ukraine and State Department of the Documentation Insurance Fund (Kharkiv). Ukrderzharkhiv’s functions include establishing and maintaining legal control over public archival records in Ukraine, forming state policy in respect to archival planning, standardizing and controlling records maintenance, co-ordinating the work of Ukrainian archive institutions, overseeing the National Archival Fond of Ukraine, and digitalizing archival collections.

The earliest predecessor of Ukrderzharkhiv was the Main Archival Administration, established under one of the branches of the Ukrainian SSR’s People's Commissariat for Education in 1919. After a few interim adjustments it was turned into the Central Archival Administration of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee in 1923. From 1938 to 1960 archival co-ordination in the Ukrainian SSR was carried on directly under the security services or under the auspices of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs. From 1960 centralized responsibility for archival matters came under the jurisdiction of the Archival Administration (later Main Archival Administration) of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine assumed control over the Main Archival Administration in 1992 and established the The State Committee on Archives of Ukraine as its successor in 1999. Since 1970 the chief administrators of these bodies have been Oleksandr Mitiukov (1969–88), Borys Ivanenko (1989–96), Nina Kystruska (1996–98), Ruslan Pyrih (1998–2002), Hennadii Boriak (2002–6), Olha Hinzburg (2006–8, 2009–14), Oleksandr Udod (2008–9), Tetiana Baranova (2014–19), and Anatolii Khromov (since 2019).

As of 2023 Ukrderzharkhiv oversees the work of 874 institutions which employ over 3,466 archivists (2,796 females and 670 males). These include seven national-level archives (Central State Archive of Higher Organs of Government and Administration, Central State Archive of Civic Alliances and Ukrainica, Central State Historical Archive in Kyiv, Central State Historical Archive in Lviv, Central State Audiovisual and Electronic Archive, Central State Scientific-Technical Archive, and Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art), the Ukrainian Scientific Research Institute of Archival Affairs and Document Studies, the Scientific Research Library of the Central State Archives of Ukraine, 25 oblast archives as well as the Crimean state archive and the state archives of the cities of Kyiv, 111 archival departments of raion state administrations, 126 archival departments of city councils, 570 archival organs of village and town councils, and 17 archives founded by private individuals. The beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014 affected the network of local archives, especially those located on the occupied territory or in the war zone. Ukrderzharkhiv publishes the journal Arkhivy Ukraïny as well as (since 2000) the bulletin Visnyk Derzhavnoї arkhivnoї sluzhby Ukraїny (known previously as Visnyk Derzhavnoho komitetu arkhiviv Ukraïny) (2000–18, 73 vols). Since 2000 it awards the annual Veretennikov Prize for excellence in the field of archival and documentary studies. Ukrderzharkhiv has been active in preparing electronic guides to major state archives. Its website (https://archives.gov.ua/) provides a broad range of information on archival matters in addition to links to individual Ukrainian archival sites. Other of its resources include the selection of digitalized documents titled ‘The Unique Documents of the National Archival Fund of Ukraine’ (https://archives.gov.ua/?uniq=1&s=) and Inter-Archival Search Portal (https://searcharchives.net.ua/)—a single access window to digital resources of Ukrainian archives.

Serhiy Bilenky

[This article was updated in 2024.]