Value categories of archival documents in Ukrainian archival science

Abstract

The study addressed the issue of identifying the key stages in the research of value categories of archival documents in Soviet times and during the period of Ukraine’s independence. The purpose of this study was to highlight the major events in the history of Ukrainian archival research on the problem of defining and studying the value categories of documents of the National Archive Fund. The study determined priorities in the identification and study of value categories of archival documents by Ukrainian archivists at various stages of its history. The activities of Ukrainian state archives to identify and record the value category of archival documents – especially valuable ones – have been carried out since the early 1980s as a result of the adoption of regulatory documents on this archival technology by the all-Union archival leadership. In independent Ukraine, with the adoption of laws concerning the National Archive Fund and archival institutions, the priority in identifying and organising work was given to another valuable category of archival documents – unique ones. It was vital to analyse the methodology of monetary evaluation of documents of the National Archive Fund. Based on monetary evaluation of documents of the National Archive Fund, the study determined their value categories, describing the procedure of such evaluation step by step. Specifically, the study considered an approximate scale of documents’ evaluation by various characteristics and features, an indicative scale of documents’ value, as well as forms of reporting documentation on the results of monetary evaluation. The approximate scale of prices was correlated with value categories of archival documents, but they were not outlined in this regulatory document. In addition, by analysing regulations, the study examined the government-approved procedure for classifying documents of the National Archive Fund as unique, their accounting and storage, the methodology for classifying documents of the National Archive Fund as unique, as well as amendments to this document. It was this document that became the basis for organising the identification of unique documents and compilation of their annotated lists. The practical significance of this study lies in the fact that its findings can be used to recreate the history of studying archival documents by Ukrainian archivists from the standpoint of their differentiation by value categories as a new area in the development of the theory of expert valuation of these documents