The collapse of the Soviet Union and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States has had many far-ranging consequences. One of the pleasant changes has been the growing accessibility of Russian and Ukrainian state archival institutions to western archivists, historians and genealogists.
Visits by various Mennonite historians and archivists to Russian and Ukrainian archival centers during the past several years have revealed treasures for understanding the story of Mennonites in Russia and the Soviet Union that were previously hardly imaginable. The reigning assumption had been that many of the records about the Mennonite colonies in European Russia or Ukraine were destroyed during World War II.
The discovery in 1991 of the official Molotschna Colony Archives in Odessa (since named the Peter J. Braun Archives) was the first indication that many of these records had indeed survived. Subsequent discoveries in Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Simferopel and St. Petersburg suggest riches far beyond the Braun Archives. In St. Petersburg, the capital of Tsarist Russia during the Mennonite period of 1789-1917, we are discovering materials that range far beyond the settlements of Ukraine.
These archival institutions hold materials of many different kinds: official reports filed by colony representatives regarding schools, church membership, agricultural and industrial production; observations and records collected by Russian and Soviet government officials; census records for both villages and colonies; vital statistics (birth, marriage and death records); emigration records, and yes, even some church records.
The Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies in Fresno is currently entering into agreements with the archives in St. Petersburg, Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye. In St. Petersburg and Zaporozhye the agreements will be in collaboration with other North American Mennonite archival institutions. Currently we are the only Mennonite organization negotiating with Dnepropetrovsk.
We recently forwarded $2500 to St. Petersburg and nearly $1000 to Dnepropetrovsk for the purpose of microfilming their Mennonite records. In order to complete the negotiations in Zaporozhye, we will need to commit ourselves to $4500 per year for three years. In exchange we will receive 150,000 pages of documents from the Zaporozhye archives.
We are looking for friends and supporters who will help us underwrite this project on a three-year basis. Please carefully consider whether you might be able to assist us in procuring these important historical records.
Last modified: 4/2/96