Central State Archive of the Kyrgyz Republic

Overview

The Central State Archive of the Kyrgyz Republic, based in Bishkek, is the country's largest and leading archive and its most important documentary information resource. The Agency of Archives of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan oversees the country's archival institutions.

History

The archive's history begins in March 1927, when the Archival Bureau of the Regional Executive Committee of the Kyrgyz Autonomous Region was renamed the Central Archive, initially staffed by only two employees responsible for identifying, accounting for, and acquiring archival materials. By March 1928 the Central Archive had received 1,500 items for storage. On February 11, 1929, the Central Executive Committee of the Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic approved the Statute on the Central Archives on the Rights of Independent Management, giving the Central Archive authority over the organization and oversight of archival institutions across the republic. By October 1929 the archive held 439 fonds in state storage, totaling 40,591 items.

Collections, Holdings, and Publications

The Central State Archive now holds more than 500,000 items reflecting the history of Kyrgyzstan since the mid-19th century. A related but separate institution, the Central State Archive of Social-Political Documentation (successor to the former Archive of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan), holds a significant collection of decrees related to wartime evacuation and other twentieth-century political history. Selected records from the Central State Archive have also been preserved at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Access and Usage

Foreign researchers seeking access typically submit a written application with a letter of recommendation, and written permission from the archive's director, valid for one calendar year, is generally required; researchers are advised to contact the archive well in advance of a visit. Archival finding aids are largely based on the Soviet-era cataloguing system and are mostly available only in Russian and largely in printed, on-site form rather than online.