Estonia Archives and Libraries
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- Archives collect and preserve original documents of organizations such as churches or governments. Libraries generally collect published sources such as books, maps, and microfilm.
- If you plan to visit a repository, contact them and ask for information about their collection, hours, services, and fees. Ask if they require you to have a reader’s ticket (a paper indicating you are a responsible researcher) to view the records, and ask how to obtain one.
- Although the records you need may be in an archive or library, the FamilySearch Library may have microfilmed and/or digitized copies of them.
One difficulty in Estonian research is the dispersal of sources among various archives. Records can be found in the:
- Estonian National Archives
- National Archives of Sweden
- Russian State Archives
- Latvian State Historical Archives
Archives[edit | edit source]
Estonian National Archives[edit | edit source]
Estonian National Archives (Rahvusarhiv)
Nooruse 3
50411 Tartu, Estonia
E-mail: rahvusarhiiv@ra.ee
Telephone: +372 738 7500
Saaga: Online Digital Records
Contact Information
- Digitized records include metrical books (church records), revision lists, military records, farmstead books, land registry records, residential registration records and more. For help navigating Saaga, see the "How to" Guide.
The National Archives of Sweden[edit | edit source]
The National Archives of Sweden, which is open to the public, has a large genealogical and biographical collection as well as government accounts, land records, tax lists, maps, and pictures. The FamilySearch Library has microfilm copies of many of the National Archives' records.
- Riksarkivet
Fyrverkarbacken 13-17
Stockholm, Sweden
Postal address: Box 12541, S-102 29, Stockholm, Sweden<
Telephone: 011-46-8-737 63 50
Fax: 011-46-8-737 64 74
- Website
- Start researching archives Here you can search for information about archives in Sweden and about the National Archives' digitized archive material, for example church archives, population registers or letters. Documents from the Swedish Diplomatarium and the Swedish Biographical Lexicon (SBL) are also included.
- About family and personal research Genealogy for beginners: In our archives there is information about who has been born and died, married, moved or participated in house interrogations. We have private archives of diaries and letters, as well as official sources from civil and military archives across the country.
- Explore our digital archives In the Digitala forskarsalen you will find the National Archives' digitized archives, registers and databases.
- Personal/genealogical research, general Here you can order copies or information from the church archives and other archive holdings that you need for your personal and genealogical research.
Latvian State Historical Archives[edit | edit source]
Latvian State Historical Archives
Slokas iela 16
Riga, LV-1007, Latvia
Telephone: +371 67612406
E-mail: vestures.arhivs@lvva.gov.lv
Webpage
Latvian State Historical Archives project Raduraksti
- The main goal of Latvian State Historical Archives project Raduraksti is to provide access to the archival documents which can be used for family history research and to provide the necessary preservation of the original documents.
Russian State Historical Archives[edit | edit source]
Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA)
Zanevsky pr. 36
st. Metro Ladozhskaya
195112 St. Petersburg, Russia
Website
- Original sources concerning the history of Estonian people from the 17th up to the first half of the 20th century can be found in these archives.
- Neither the Federal Archival Agency nor many Russian archives are staffed or equipped to answer extensive genealogical inquires of a "family history" nature.
- Unless the exact archive involved has already been identified, family-history inquiries should normally be addressed directly to more specialized genealogical services.
BLITZ[edit | edit source]
The Russian Ancestry Research Services: BLITZ Information Center works with the historic archives in St. Petersburg and Moscow and provides genealogy research, document retrieval and translations. BLITZ is located in St. Petersburg and also maintains an office in California. BLITZ provides a preliminary genealogy search for US$80.00.
At the conclusion of this preliminary search, they give you our assessment as to the existence of records of your family and the direction of further research. They will also tell you if there are some documents which you should order. On the other hand, if they believe that further research will be unproductive, they will let you know along with the reasons.
- Russian Ancestry Research Services: BLITZ Information Center
907 Mission Ave, San Rafael, California, 94901-2910, USA
Telephone: 415-453-3579
FAX: 415-453-0343
E-mail address: enute@igc.org
Russian Ancestry Research Services RUSSIA
Elena Tsvetkova
rublitz@gmail.com
Telephone: 7(812) 436-9405
Postal Address:
Pereulok Grivtsova, 10
Russkoe Geographicheskoe Obschestvo
Sankt Petersburg, Russia 190000
- Russian Ancestry Research Services: BLITZ Information Center
Shefayim Jewish Archives[edit | edit source]
The Association of Latvian and Estonian Jews Archive holds records at Kibbutz Shefayim. Their website is in Hebrew, but you can use Google Translate to help you navigate the site. To see an online inventory of records available, see the JewishGen Latvia and Estonia Research Division Shefayim Archives page.
Estonian-American Archives[edit | edit source]
Estonian-American National Council
- "Collecting of Estonian-American materials began before the establishment of the Estonian Archives in the U.S. This included valuable materials from more than a century ago.
- The overwhelming abundance of preserved, collected and deposited materials has come from Estonians who immigrated to America from the Displaced Persons Camps in Germany, 1945-1950.
- As a result of a formal appeal in 1965 for additional material about that the DP period, a substantial collection was in place and archived. This was initially housed for safe keeping in numerous Estonian-American homes."
- The Estonian Archives in USA has gathered in its facility in Lakewood, NJ, a large amount of archival materials documenting both the lives of individuals and the activities of various Estonian American organizations.
- Estonian Archives in the United States, Inc. (EAUS)
607 East 7th Street
P.O. Box 726
Lakewood, NJ 08701-0726
Phone: (732) 363-6523
Director: Enda-Mai Michelson Holland, eholland@monmouth.edu
Website
Person Records: Persons Records List as of July 2011
- Estonian Archives in the United States, Inc. (EAUS)
Libraries[edit | edit source]
National Library of Estonia
Tõnismägi 2
Tallinn, Estonia
Phone: +372 630 7600
Email: info@nlib.ee
Website
Museums[edit | edit source]
Estonia National Museum
Muuseumi tee 2
60532 Tartu, Estonia
Ticket information: +372 736 3051
Phone: +3727363000
E-mail: erm@erm.ee
Website
Record Offices[edit | edit source]
Civil registration records are usually located in the civil registration offices at the local governments of the counties (maakonnakeskuste omavalitsuste). Refer to the list below to locate contact information for the county government that your ancestor lived in:
In some cases, civil registration documents may be obtained from the Archives of the Department of Population Operations of the Ministry of the Interior.
For those born in the city of Tallin, civil registration records may also be available at the Tallin Vital Statistics Office.