Державний архів Тернопільської області

The Ternopil State Oblast Archives began operating on November 1, 1939, after the annexing of Western Ukraine to the USSR. The Dominican monastery was adapted as an archival repository. After establishment of the Ternopil Oblast in USSR on December 4, 1939, the Ternopil State Oblast Archives were renamed as the Ternopil Oblast Historic Archive. From 1941 it was known as the State Archive of Ternopil Oblast . The most important documents of the State Archive of Ternopil Oblast were evacuated during the World War II, the main part was left on site, leading to irreversible losses. At the beginning of July 1941 Ternopil and Ternopil Oblast temporarily became part of the District Galizien. When German troops retreated, occupying forced turned the of archives` premises into a point of defense. It was calculated that only 72 collections (533813 collection items) remained from 123 collections (924166 collection items), which were recorded on January 1, 1941. The State Archive of Ternopil Oblast resumed its work after the liberation of Ternopil in April, 1944 by Soviet troops. Organisation of archive service of the oblast was completed in 1947. Its official name since 1958 was Ternopil Oblast State Archive, and since 1980 it is the State Archive of Ternopil Oblast. 

The collections of the Archive of the pre-1939 period consist of documents from the Cathedral of the Assumption Lavra at Pochayiv (1557-1939), decrees and orders of the Volyn Sacred Consistory, copy of Suvorov’s reports concerning victory over French troops (1799), orders of Warsaw-Chełm and Volhynia Sacred Consistories (1834), documents associated with collecting funds to construct monuments to Khmelnytskyi and Kutuzov, protocols of meetings of the Sacred Sobor (1840-1925), documents concerning typography, statistical data about Lavra, its premises, enterprises and landholdings, revision registers of serfs (1833). The Volhynia Orthodox Sacred Consistory collection (1918-1919) contains resolutions concerning organisation of archive administration in Kremenets in 1920 and the renaming of Volhynia Diocesan Council to Volhynia Sacred Consistory and also concerning legal status of Orthodox Church in Poland, along with lists of clergy. The Ternopil Municipal Council collection (1784-1918) contains protocols of meetings of members of the Municipal Council, information about the hospitals, shops, stations in Ternopil, documents about the history of the city of Ternopil, census of population and its material status (1851-1917) etc. The collections of the Ternopil County Finance Directorate for Halych District (1826-1910) contain plans and cadastral maps of villages and towns of the region. The Archive also preserves collections of the Kremenets Roman Catholic Decanate, the Orthodox parish administrations of the Kremenets county, and the Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic parish administrations of the Berezhany, Chortkiv and Ternopil areas of Galicia. The collections of Ternopil Voivodship administration (1920-1939) includes documents about the economy and social and political life of the Ternopil region. The collections of the County Wardenship (1919-1939) includes protocols of meetings of wardens and district boards, economic and geographical descriptions of the districts, lists of industrial, trade and commercial establishments etc. The cultural life of that time is described in the documents of the Kremenets, Terebovla and Ternopil branches of the Prosvita Society. Among the collections of Soviet period, those of the Ternopil Oblast Executive Committee (1939-1941, 1944-1978), Statistic Administration of Ternopil Oblast (1945-1975), Department of Health Protection (1944-1960), Administration of Culture (1953-1981) are worthy of notice. They contain documents concerning the activities of various economic enterprises, the state of health protection and culture, the activities of commercial organisations and enterprises, consumer service, capital and communal housing construction etc. The collection of the Security Service of Ukraine administration in Ternopil Oblast (1941-1953) contains the cases of repatriated citizens, the cases of servicemen who were in Nazi captivity, and also criminal extrajudicial cases of citizens who were repressed in 1939-1941 and 1944-1950 but are now rehabilitated. The collection of documents from the former Communist party archives consists of collections of oblast committees, municipal committees, district committees of Communist Party and Komsomol, local Party and Komsomol organisations, the political departments of oblast military committee, the Ministry of Transport, railways, the political sector of oblast administration of agriculture and others. The archive preserves personal collections of famous people on the field of culture, scientists and other public figures who where born in the region. Great steps were taken in the period 1991-2006 to declassify documents. 156 collections containing 35963 of collection items were declassified at that time. The collections of some pre-1939 establishments and others from the German occupation period (1941-1944) have been made available to public. The post-1939 funds of Ternopil Oblast and District Executive Committees, the commissioner on cases of religious denominations at the Council of Ministries of USSR for Ternopil Oblast and the commissioner on matter pertaining of the Orthodox Church and the Oblast Department of Health Protection have also been declassified.  

Archive holds documentary and other archival materials from the Ternopil Region, from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russian, Soviet and Ukrainian Independence periods, from the end of XVI century until the present date.