SCIENTIFIC ARCHIVE
KOLA SCIENCE CENTER
THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Makarova Elena Ivanovna

The scientific archive of Kola Science Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (the SA KSC RAS) is a store of valuable materials of expeditions and scientific research in the Euro-Arctic region. It has been created in the process of establishment and development of Kola Science Centre, which celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2000.

The archive stocks store rich cartography materials, field diaries, manuscripts of scientific works, audio-visual and management documents, which shed light on the history of the Hibinskaya Mountain Station of the Academy of Sciences (HMS, 1930 - 1932), Kola Department of the USSR AS (KDAS, 1932 - 1949), Kola Branch of the USSR AS (KBrAS, 1949 - 1988), Kola Science Center of the USSR AS (KSC, 1988 - 1991) and Kola Science Centre of the RAS (KSC RAS, from 1991).These documents are safe thanks to academician A.Ye. Fersman, who jointly with a group of enthusiastic scientists created for the first time in scientific practice a stationary provincial research center of the AS behind the Arctic Circle - "Tietta". Being a professional scientist he attached the greatest importance to the initial and analytical data that were received during expeditions and office studies at the initial stage of the research and development of the Kola Peninsula. Being also a talented administrator, A.Ye. Fersman at the time of the first soviet five-year plans, which were aimed at economic expansion, grounded the management structures of the scientific effort and dataware at the Hibinskaya mountain station (1930) and Kola base of the USSR AS (1934 - 1949). The 6 thousand books which he presented to 'Tietta' became the body of the scientific library, which by now has grown into the richest collection of scientific ideas in 500 000 units. He also favoured to preservation and regulation of the archival materials of the USSR HMS - KDAS.

According to the , approved on 4th June 1933, in 1935 the scientific secretary A.M. Oranzhireeva collected the archival documents into a . In the beginning the scientific archive wasn't an independent organization department and the materials were taken stock of as a part of the library or a special department. After the transformation of the Kola department into the Kola branch of the USSR AS in 1949, the question aroused as to whether the archive should be an independent organization department. This happened thanks to G.A. Knyazev, who headed the archive management at the Academy of Sciences; through his activity he molded the public perception of the archive management as important scientific, historical and cultural heritage. With his active participation in the 50-s the matters of the historical document database creation and widening of the historical sources range were repeatedly given thought to at the sittings of the Presidium of the USSR AS; 6 special resolves covering the issues of the legal statues of the scientific archives and their activity regulation were made.

In 1957 the scientific archive of the KSC RAS acquired a status of an independent subsidiary department attached to the Presidium of KBr USSR AS. Its creation became 'a must' because at the time a group of scientific establishments included into the KBr of the USSR AS was set up; their purpose was the development of the Kola industrial region. A range of resolutions of the Government and the Presidium of the AS secured for the archival stock a legal status: "to store the manuscripts of scientists, men of letters and cultural workers, also archival materials of the Academy of Science … in the Archive of the USSR AS and in the archives of its departments without passing it to the State archived. This resolution confirmed the legal status of the Scientific archive of the KBr of the USSR AS as a departmental branch of the archive of the USSR AS in the Murmansk region, which was entrusted to store the documents of the KBr of the USSR AS, without passing them into regional state archive, valid to present day. In the beginning the archive accommodated in a room with the total area of 10 m2 on the ground floor of a wooden two-storied building in Kukisvumchorr settlement (the town of Kirovsk), where the Kola branch of the USSR AS was located. Already in the mid 60-s (1964) the archive moved together with the Branch into a new office block of the "Academic town" in the town of Apatity. The number of the workers on its staff varied from 1 worker (1957) to four ones (1994). At present there are two people in its staff.

During the reforms, which started after the 19th August 1991, the political and social structure of Russia changed. A sudden change highlighted key points in archive management too. The archive turned to be a subject of information resources and an information system. The scientific archive of KSC entered a new millennium not only as an Archival stock preserver on the territory of the Murmansk region, but also as a scientific research department, working out the subject of regional history, particularly the science of the Kola North development. At the same time the Scientific Archive represent a preserver of the archival stock of the Russian Academy of Science as a departmental archive and a preserver of a part of the State Archive stock of the RF. The use of documents from the scientific archive of KSC is regulated in the first case by p.3.12 of the Regulations on the Archival stock of the Russian Academy of Science where the right of user is stated for all juridical and natural persons through the following: "the spreading of information about the archival documents, issuing of constats and extracts from the documents, social and legal references, giving out of the documents or their copies for research and exhibitions". Due to the fact that the archive is the preserver of the State Archival stock, the use of documents is regulated by the article 22 part V of the law of the Murmansk Region "About the Archival stock of the Murmansk region and the archives", where also the right of user is stated for all juridical and natural persons, moreover "the use of archival documents in the archival establishments of the Murmansk Region is carried out in the accordance with the procedure, prescribed by the Federal Archival service of Russia."

The scientific archive consists of 4 storehouses, two working rooms and a reading room with the total area of 124 m ². 10 stocks of archival materials with 54 295 units in total number are distributed at 572 running meters with open and closed metal shelves. The list of archival stocks consists of 12 points in accordance with the stock-forming organizations: the Presidium of the Kola branch of the USSR AS - Kola Science Center RAS - stock No.1, Geological Institute - stock No.2, Institute of technology of rare elements and mineral raw materials - stock No.3, personal stock of professor P.N. Chervinski - stock No.4, Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden - Institute - stock No.5, Mining Institute - stock No. 6, Polar Geophysical Institute - stock No. 7, Murmansk Marine Biological Institute - stock No. 8, Institute of Economy Problems - stock No. 9, Institute of the North Ecology Problems - stock No.10, Institute of Informatics and Mathematic Modeling of technologic processes - stock No.11, Institute of Physical and Technical problems of the energy of the North - stock No.12

The reference service is functioning in the archive; it is aimed at the search of any retrospective information contained in the archival documents. This service is formed by two kinds of reference-books: archival lists and catalogues. Above them, there are also the following reference-books: "Bibliographic annotated index of scientific works of the KBr of the USSR AS for 1931-1966"; "Documental stock survey of the archive of the KBr of the USSR AS for 1929-1973"; "Draft guide-book of the scientific archive of the KSC RAS for 1929-1990"; "Reference and guide-book of the stocks of the KSCRAS, 1908, 1920-2000". The basis for the information catalogues and reference books is provided by the inventories, which supply information for them. The inventories are the main organizing and information - providing tool at the work with the archival documents and a basic reference book. The personnel catalogue is compiled by page-by-page survey of the personnel orders, the data on the orders are included into the card, that's why the catalogue represents the basic reference book on the personnel of KSC. At present there is a brief archive guide on the Internet site of the KSC RAS, in Russian and in English.

The documents of the Scientific archive of the KSC RAS as a source of cultural, scientific, political, economical, social and legal information can be given to the citizens of Russia and juridical persons on demand. Considering the traditional forms of documentary usage, nevertheless, at present the archive more often resorts to those forms which are not typical for a departmental archive with restricted data, such as selection and preparation of the documents for exhibitions, publications on the history of science in the region, retrieval of the information about the workers, who suffered from repressions. Nowadays some part of the restricted data is subjected to declassification. Due to the fact that for the period of the last two years about a thousand of declassified documents came into scientific usage, the range of scientific sources on the history of science as a whole and the region in particular was substantially enriched. Certainly, the specific character of the documents determines the practical interest in them; the documents bear relation to scientific research, scientific and technical, administrative, organizational, financial, economical, social and legal information on the staff of the KSC RAS.

Due to a recent strong emphasis on archives the documents are made good use in historic, cultural and educational aspects. This emphasis is stipulated in the first place by the possible access to the restricted data and in the second place by the fact that the KSC RAS has reached a new level of departmental and international cooperation: after the subscription of the Kirkiness "Declaration of cooperation in the Barents Euro-Arctic region" on 11th January 1993 a unique structure - the Barents Region was established, where Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden formed alliance. The program presupposes the working out of joint scientific projects, including the projects on history of science and spreading of knowledge. The Scientific archive plays a certain role in this international cooperation. The archive belongs to the community of Polar libraries and archives, it cooperates with the Technological university of Luleo (Sweden), takes part in the international, all-Russian and regional conferences covering the issues of the history of archival management, prepares publication of scientific articles on the history of science and region, using the archival materials. The work with private papers of outstanding men of science, such as A.Ye. Fersman, A. V. Sidorenko, N.A. Avrorin and I.V. Bel,kov ranks high in the research activity and regional studies of the archive. This activity includes the making up of their private stocks on basis of the archival materials, preparation of articles about their activity on demand of Russian encyclopedic editions and for collected articles on the history of science; the work also includes preparation of dissertations including the staff of the Archive, degree works and term papers on the regional history by the students, preparation of subject exhibitions in the Museum of the North development. Finally, it includes the practical work of the students from the historical department of the KB PetrSU.

The archival data warehousing has always been determined and is still determined by its academic slant. The easy access to the data for the sake of the society and development of scientific studies has always been a most and foremost activity purpose. In the new millennium the historical, cultural and educational research of the past, covering a greater number of information fields, with the help of the archival materials has become a noticeable trend for the Scientific archive of the KSC.

Scientific archive
KSC RAS
T: (81555) 79303,79402
FAX: (81555) 79425
E - mail: makarova@admksc.apatity.ru;
WWW: http://www.kolasc.net.ru/russian/archive/