Estonian Historical Archives

Eesti Ajalooarhiiv

visiting and postal address
J. Liivi 4
50409 Tartu
Estonia

telephone
+372.(0)7.387 500
+372.(0)7.387 501

fax
+372.(0)7.387 510

e-mail
ajalooarhiiv@ra.ee

website
www.eha.ee

project contact
Enn Küng, Kersti Lust (Estonian Historical Archives)
Juhan Kreem (Tallinn City Archives)
Janet Laidla (libraries and museums)

opening hours
reception desk: Mon-Fri 8.00-19.00, Sat 10.00-15.00
office: Mon-Fri 9.00-17.00
reading rooms: Mon-Fri 9.00-19.00, Sat 10.00-15.00
in summer (from 1 July until 1 September): Mon-Fri 9.00-15.00, Sat closed

holdings, mission, structure
The Estonian Historical Archives preserves records of former central administrative institutions on the Estonian territory, court and police organs, materials of knighthood (Baltic-German nobility), local governments of towns and rural areas. We also hold records of churches and educational institutions as well as manors and personal files and also various kinds of documentation that belonged to societies and enterprises. Here you can find rare documents, seals and original letters of governors, vellums, engravings and photographs and the largest collection of historical maps in Estonia. Our collection contains approximately 2 million records or 20,000 shelf metres of records.
The Estonian State Central Archives, the predecessor of the present-day Estonian Historical Archives, was established in 1921. In accordance with the Archives Act 1998, the Estonian Historical Archives became a structural unit of the National Archives of Estonia on 1 January 1999.
The main objective of the Estonian Historical Archives is to ensure through collection of records and exercise of archival supervision the performance of duties of the National Archives as a public archives, required by law. We also have to supervise the activities of the county archives of Jõgeva, Pärnu, Tartu, Valga and Viljandi within the limits of our competence and organise their administration.
The duties prescribed by the statutes of the Estonian Historical Archives are performed by the following departments:
* Holdings department
* Department of semi-current records
* Publishing department
* Preservation department
* Information technology department
* Administrative department
For further information, see www.eha.ee.

relevant publications

database of 17th century publications:
17. sajandi (kuni 1710) trükised Ajalooarhiivi fondides
Drucke des 17. Jahrhunderts (bis 1710) im Estnishen Historischen Archiv, compiled by Kersti Lust (2002), CD; see www.eha.ee/plakatid.
Grimsted, Patricia Kennedy, Archives and manuscript repositories in the USSR: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Belorussia (Princeton, 1981).
Laidre, Margus , Üks hä tru ja öige sullane. Elust Rootsi sõjaväes Eesti- ja Liivimaal 1654-1700 (Tartu, 1999).
Laur, Mati, Eesti ala valitsemine 18. sajandil (1710-1783) (Tartu, 2000).
Küng, Enn, Rootsi majanduspoliitika Narva kaubanduse küsimuses 17. sajandi teisel poolel (Tartu, 2001).
Eesti Ajalooarhiivi toimetised 8 (15). Läänemere provintside arenguperspektiivid Rootsi suurriigis 16./17. sajandil Tartu 2002 (8 articles, summaries can be found at www.eha.ee/raamatud/toimetis8_zsmmn.htm.

holdings concerning the Baltic Sea
In the Estonian Historical Archives, a great number of holdings of different institutions and persons are preserved. Our holdings contain legal documents (proclamations, decrees, instructions, charters, etc), minute books, letters, lists of various type and bookkeeping documents of administrative organs (Governor Generals), local governments (knighthood, city magistrates), churches, consistories, court and police organs, guilds of merchants and craftsmen and customs offices on the Estonian territory. There are also some collections of trade companies and manors as well as personal collections (mainly of local noblemen, i.e Baranoff, Baumgarten, Berg, Brevern, Buxhöwden, Dehn, Essen, Fersen, Klugen, Maydell, Köhler, Nolcken, Pistohlkors, Rosen, Schilling, Schwebs, Stackelberg, Stiernhielm, Ungern-Sternberg, Wrangell, but also of some merchants (Numens, Rodde, Pöppelmann, Sutthoff). Collections of Georg von Krusenstern, Eugen von Nottbeck and Kukruse manor contain also several old documents (the majority has been published already). In the above-mentioned materials, there are records concerning international relations, wars, trade and cultural contacts of our country with other countries around the Baltic Sea and beyond.

_{Narva town council resolution on a conflict with Tallinn about salt and herring trading rights, 1668}