Archives: “History of the country, history of the archive. 50th anniversary of the Russian State Archive of Economy” exhibition in Moscow

On September 27, 2011 at the Exhibition Hall of Federal State Archives (Moscow) opened a historical and documentary exhibition “History of the country, history of the archive. 50th anniversary of the Russian State Archive of Economy”.

The history of theory and practice of Russian economics, development of basic industrial sectors, economical growth of regions and krais, lives of specialists – financiers and aviators, bankers and geologists, peasants and statisticians – has been preserved in documentary holdings of the Russian State Archive of Economy.

The Russian State Archive of Economy was founded in 1961. At that time it was called the Central State Archive of National Economy of the USSR. The very name of the archive implied the profile of its documents. In 1992 the archive was renamed the Russian State Archive of Economy.

Along with documents on the history of Russia’s economy the archive also included documents which concerned representatives of different social strata and professions. They cover the history of the pre-revolutionary Russia as well.

The general idea of the exhibition – is to use documents from the Russian State Archive of Economy to show the history of country’s economy, shaping and development of its national economic complex in chronological (the USSR - Russia) interconnection and variety of themes.

The exposition includes three main thematic-chronological sets:

- “Economy of the USSR. 1920s – 1980s.”

- “At the turn of epochs. End of 1980s – beg. 1990s”

- “From private holdings of the Russian State Archive of Economy”.

Many of the released documents used to be classified, and today visitors of the exhibition have a unique chance to disclose the “state secrets”.

One of the halls of the exposition showcases documents from the “gold reserve” of the Russian State Archive of Economy – private collections. Documents unknown to the general public which have never been put on show at Soviet times go on display to cast the light on the life of pre-revolutionary Russia.