more Russian archives

[David Lewis]

The archive was established in 1946 on the basis of records
                      from the prerevolutionary Moscow Main Archive of the
Ministry
                      of Foreign Affairs (MGAMID), the Main Archive of the
Ministry
                      of Foreign Affairs (GAMID) in St. Petersburg, and
also the
                      Chancellery of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Russian
                      Empire. In October 1991 the archive was renamed AVPRI.
                      The eighteenth-century division contains records from
the
                      prerevolutionary Moscow Main Archive of the Ministry of
                      Foreign Affairs (MGAMID), which had remained the main
                      depository for official diplomatic records until the
early 1830s.
                      Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century complexes
include:
                      holdings of the former St. Petersburg Main Archive of
the
                      Ministry of Foreign Affairs (GAMID); records which
had been
                      retained in the chancellery archive of the Foreign
Ministry itself
                      in St. Petersburg; and records of various Russian
embassies,
                      missions, and consulates abroad.
                      There are also personal fonds of diplomats, a special
                      collection of original treaties, and several other
special
                      collections.
                      N.B. Most of the diplomatic records of the Posol'skii
prikaz
                      (Ambassadorial Bureau), predating the formation of the
                      Collegium in 1720, and of the sections (razriady) of
the State
                      Archive of the Russian Empire (Gosarkhiv), including
                      important diplomatic materials from the eighteenth
and first
                      half of the nineteenth centuries, are now held in
RGADA (B-2).