Our Services
Dear users of the National Historical Archives of Belarus!
Due to the large number of genealogical and thematic requests received and accepted in the work, the reception of applications is temporarily suspended: for genealogical research from January 18, 2024, for thematic research from March 13, 2024. The resumption of applications will be announced additionally. The archive can search for information about persons of interest within the framework of biographical inquiries.
Due to a significant increase in the number of requests for digital copies of documents, invoicing and request processing times may be extended. Since April 4, 2024, the urgent (unscheduled) execution of requests is temporarily suspended. The resumption of accepting applications will be announced later.
Due to the planned preparation of archival documents for scanning, the acceptance of requests for digital copies of documents (in full, without a selection of sheets) is suspended from August 26, 2024. The resumption of accepting these requests will be announced later.
The services offered by the National Historical Archives of Belarus include:
- Biographical inquiries: evidence of birth, marriage and death dates (please, download a sample for submitting a request for a bibliographical inquiry). Biographical inquire.
- The list of parish registers for Jewish communities (synagogues) stored in the archive can be found at the link.
- Genealogical requests: conducting genealogical research (please, download a sample of a request for genealogical research).
- A sample of an application form for working at the Reading Room to conduct genealogical research (download a sample of an application form)
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Thematic requests and inventories: conducting research on the history of a specific settlement, institution, as well as providing a confirmation of residency, education, working experience and other information; compiling lists of documents on different topics for different geographical areas and chronological periods.
- Reproduction services: providing digitised copies of records with a possibility to provide signed and sealed paper copies (please, download a sample of an application form to request digital copies of records).
- The sale of scholarly publications
- A sample of an application from the institution for working at the Reading Room on the scientific theme
- The permission for export the copies of archival documents
The Archives service fee
In accordance with the price list for the services performed by the National Historical Archives of Belarus, approved by the order № 9 issued by the Director on 05.05.2021, the following fees are applied from 05.05.2021:
| Services | Units | Prices (BYN) |
| Conducting thematic research* | One request |
deposit – 60,00 - 240,00** full cost – up to 600,00 |
| Conducting genealogical research* | « – » |
deposit – 360,00 full cost – up to 1800,00 |
| Conducting biographical research | « – » | 55,00 |
| Issuance of a duplicate of an archival reference | « – » | 25% of the request fee on the day when the request for a duplicate was received. |
|
Providing a digital copy*** of one A4**** page of the original document;
with a resolution of 600 dpi (TIFF format). |
One copy |
2,50
Additional 50% of the cost of the request fee for providing a standard digital copy |
| Providing a digital copy of a microfilm without the selection of frames (the whole item) | « – » | 1,60 |
| Providing a digital copy of a microfilm with the selection of frames | « – » | 2,00 |
| Providing a copy of an already digitised item | « – » | 1,60 |
| Providing a digital copy of an original document with a certified paper copy |
One copy One A4 page |
3,50 |
| Providing a digital copy of one frame of a microfilm with the selection of frames or of an already digitised item with a certified paper copy | « – » | 2,50 |
| Providing a digital copy of one frame of a microfilm without the selection of frames or of an already digitised item with a certified paper copy | « – » | 2,10 |
| Providing a digital copy of an already digitised item with a certified paper copy | « – » | 2,50 |
| Methodological assistance with searching information about archival records | One-hour assistance | 15,00 |
| Guided tours, television broadcasts in the Archives | One working day | 104,45 |
| Urgent (unscheduled) execution of a request or an urgent request for providing a digital copy***** | « – » | Additional 50 % of the request fee |
* The final calculation is based on the actual time spent (working days). In case of the failure to find information (the absence of requested information), deposit will not be returned.
** The advance amount (deposit) and the final cost are formed based on the completeness of the search data submitted by the applicant about the requested information, documents (numbers of the collection, inventory and file, title of the document).
*** Standard digital copies of documents have a resolution of 300 dpi and provided in the JPEG format.
**** The fee of a request for providing copies of documents with the size larger than A4 page is paid according to their actual size.
***** The timeframe for the execution of a request for providing digital copies) is up to 10 working days from the date of the confirmation of payment. For urgent execution of requests it takes up to 3 working days from the date of the confirmation of payment.
The list of digitised archival items can be found here.
Payment for the archive service is made only after receiving the corresponding informational letter or the invoice with the amount of payment. You can make payment both at a banking institution and in the Internet banking system through an arbitrary payment. A sample of filling in fields paying via Internet banking can be found here.
What should you do before you start your search
To conduct research, the interested party (person, organisation, institution) should make a request addressed to the Director. The request should contain the following information: the name and initials of the customer, his/her citizenship and address of permanent residency, details concerning the request, guarantees for the payment. To conduct research on family history, there should be indicated the locality (with the indication, if possible, of the modern or historical administrative-territorial divisions), a list of all known persons of the family, approximate dates of their birth, death, their religion (Orthodox, Catholic, Jew, Lutheran and etc.), place of residence: a governorate (province), county (district), volost (village council) where the settlement was located, social status or occupation (nobles, peasants, merchants, burgers, etc.).
