Development of the regulatory and methodological basis of the main activities of archival institutions in the 1930s – 1940s.

The article analyses the legal, regulatory and methodological basis of archives management in the 1930-1940s. During this period of time, archivists, keeping in mind the main theoretical problems of the archival science formulated in the 1920s, continued developing the basis for records evaluation procedures, description, registration and usage. The response benefited from the basic regulatory and methodological (new rules and instructions) directives administering archives’ activities. During this time, there was a discussion about the possible principles of archival documents arrangement; this discussion facilitated the advancement of the theory of funding, the techniques of sorting out the documents, describing them and registering. In the pre-war period, there was the debate concerning the choice of the best ways to create the finding aids to the GAF records. It was during this time that the key formats of records which are pertinent nowadays were introduced; the first registration guidelines were prepared. Much attention was paid to the proper use of the documents kept in state archives, to their publication, and to the working out of the archival finding aids.

The article discusses the issues connected with the development and adoption in 1941 of the Statute on the GAF of the USSR. During the war time, archivists continued working on the first in the history of archives administration normative instrument that regulated document assembling – the 1943 Schedule of Records Retention. It turned out to be the first official paper pertaining to records evaluation, their selection and acquisition by state archives of the GAF records. After the adoption of the Schedule of Records Retention, archivists expected the development of the normative instrument regulating documentation processes and improving the performance of documents in People’s Comissariats, offices and organizations.

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