Sammlung ORG - Guardianship Committee of Foreign Settlers in Southern Russia: Odessa Archives Fund 6 fonds

In 1 June 1918, the Russian Government issued a decree "About Concentration and Centralization of Archives" which resulted in a state system of archival institutions being established. The most valuable records were declared as state property. The Odessa Historical Archives was established in 1920 and the records of the Guardianship Committee were placed there in 1922 as Fund #6. (Most likely the records were with the City of Odessa administration from 1871-1922.) From 1922-1940 the files were arranged chronologically, file descriptions created and a series of inventory lists prepared. By 1940 there were 5 research guides (referred to as "Inventories." During the German-Romanian occupation of the Second World War, many files disappeared. After the war, four additional "inventories" were created and existing lists updated. English and German translations of the Russia file lists begun in the 1990s. Mennonite related materials were selected for a cooperative microfilming venture between North American Mennonite archives and the Odessa Region State Archive starting in 1998, with the first microfilms arriving in North American in 2000.