The Functioning of the Apparatus of Prykaz Chambers and Development of Prykaz Archives in the Towns of Sloboda Ukraine, 17th to Early 18th Centuries

The article explores the development and operation of the archives of prykazni (or z’izhdzhi) izby (prykaz chambers) in the towns of Sloboda Ukraine from the 17th to early 18th centuries. The settlement of Sloboda Ukraine during the 17th century led not only to the spread of prykaz bureaucracy, but also to the appearance of new types of documents, distinctive for this region. The article provides a detailed description of the functioning of the institute of prykaz assistant clerks (subdeacons, piddyachi), directly responsible for day to day paperwork and acting as the principal custodians of records withdrawn from active use. Analyzing for the first time in historiography the inventory of the prykaz archive of Chuhuiv (the oldest known such office) for the 1640s enables the author to outline the bureaucratic procedures that accompanied the founding of a new town, allocation of land, and establishment of a local administration. It is argued that proper record keeping and operational efficiency of local prykaz archives depended solely on the personal qualities of individual voivodes or assistant clerks. While prykaz officials could be punished for poor performance of their direct duties, documents that would regulate archive related aspects of local administration did not exist until the last third of the 17th century. Based on analysis of inventories of prykaz archives, the author argues that this institution played a major role in the everyday life of towns. Both government policy in the development and defense of the new territories and the life of the average inhabitant of the borderlands, who needed to be allocated land and cash salary as quickly as possible, depended on the preservation and effective use of documents. The article gives an overview of modern archival collections where administrative records of prykaz chambers of Sloboda Ukraine from this period can be found today and considers the prospects for further use of these sources in historical research.