The archive has always been an important component of state administration. The National Archive Fund of the Republic of Kazakhstan is an invaluable documentary chronicle of our people's history, cultural heritage, and the national memory that has persisted for centuries.
Archive employees are entrusted with the responsible tasks of preserving, supplementing, utilizing, and reproducing the rich documentary heritage of the people.
Today, in the era of rapid development of information technologies, archives remain a necessary condition for the functioning of state institutions, the development of science, culture, education, and the resolution of citizens' social issues. Familiarity with archival documents contributes to the development of the spirit of patriotism in society and the formation of civic positions.
The oldest state archive in Kazakhstan, the Semey regional state archive, now the Aбай regional state archive, has a history spanning 106 years.
On March 29, 1920, the Semey provincial revolutionary committee considered the issue of creating a provincial archive fund to collect and preserve valuable documents related to the region's history. N.Ya. Konshin was appointed as the head of the provincial archive fund.
By 1928, the Semey state archive had accumulated 40,000 files, and by 1939, it had 194,000 files. In 1947, during the work to strengthen Kazakhstan's central archives and determine the direction of the republic's state archives, about 10,000 files from 147 funds covering the period from 1786 to 1917 were transferred to the Central State Archive of the Kazakh SSR in Almaty, while funds related to the history of the Red Army, special task units, and military hospitals were handed over to specialized archives in Moscow and Leningrad.
The funds of the Semey archive laid the foundation for the state archives of East Kazakhstan, Pavlodar, and Karaganda regions. In turn, documents related to the activities of Semey and regional institutions were obtained from the state archives of Omsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, and Taldykorgan regions.
In the 1980s, the number of archive institutions in the region increased. According to the resolution No. 248 of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR dated July 15, 1985, 12 district archives were established in the region.
In 1992, the state archive was supplemented with documents from the archive of the Semey regional committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan.
In 1997, due to the dissolution of Semey region, the archive was reorganized into the Center for Documenting Contemporary History of East Kazakhstan.
As of January 10, 2024, the Department of Culture, Language Development, and Archive Affairs of Aбай region was renamed the "State Archive of Aбай Region" KMG ("AOМА" KMG).
Today, the "State Archive of Aбай Region" KMG has two branches in Zharma and Ayagoz.
The document composition of the "State Archive of Aбай Region" KMG includes 2,502 archival funds for the years 1798, 1871-2025; 658,109 storage units, 8,780 photo documents, 339 video documents, 1,219 film documents, and 2,437 scientific and technical documents. The newspaper fund contains 14,335 storage units.
The fund of the Aбай region state archive is an invaluable treasure of personal documents. These include documents of veterans of the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars and Heroes of the Soviet Union - N.N. Silin, A. Ibraev, M.M. Medvedev, A.A. Bazdyrev, Zh. Moldagaliev, Socialist Labor Heroes M. Beisembaev, R.N. Yerzhanova, Honored Doctor of the Kazakh SSR - A.A. Kozbagarov, writers M. Sarsekeev, D. Cherepanov, People's Artist of the Kazakh SSR K. Sakiyev, Honored Artist of the Kazakh SSR T. Isova, and documents of member of the Union of Artists of Kazakhstan M.M. Belyaev.
The newspaper fund is an integral part of the "golden fund" of the Aбай region state archive, covering the period from 1905 to the present. Newspapers such as "Izvestia" from 1918, "Vechernaya Pochta" from 1905, "Volya Naroda" from 1917, "Sibirskaya Rech" from 1917, and "Trudovoye Znamya" from 1918 are preserved only in the funds of the Aбай region state archive.
Retrospective information in archival documents is widely and comprehensively used.
In the reading room, researchers – historians, lawyers, economists, local historians, students from universities and colleges, and individuals from near and far abroad, as well as various regions of Kazakhstan, work.
Specialists of the Aбай region state archive have prepared publications related to the history of the Semey-Pavlodar region: "From the History of Semipalatinsk," "Chronicle of Semipalatinsk Streets," "Tatars of Semipalatinsk Priirtyshye," "Polygon," "M. Auezov. Semipalatinsk Period," "Heroes of the Soviet Union - Semipalatinsk Residents," "Chronicle of Priirtyshye during the Great Patriotic War," "Tomorrow I Return to the Front..." (from the history of evacuated hospitals), "Always in Line" (about Hero of the Soviet Union N.N. Silin), "Semipalatinsk Divisions," "Unknown Pages of the History of Semipalatinsk Priirtyshye, 20-30s of the 20th Century," "Trade Relations of Semipalatinsk Priirtyshye, 18th - early 20th Century," "From the History of the Greatest Tragedy of the Kazakh People, 1932-1933," "Administrative-Territorial Management of East Kazakhstan, 18th Century - 30s of the 20th Century," "Development of Mining in East Kazakhstan, 18th Century - 30s of the 20th Century," "Researcher of the Steppe Region. Selected Works of N.Ya. Konshin," "Eastern Department of the Alash Orda Government," "Resettlement Policy of the Tsarist Government and its Implementation in East Kazakhstan, 17th - early 20th Century" (2 volumes), "Selected Works of Semipalatinsk Local Historians, 1903-1929," "Confrontation" (from the history of Semey polygons), "The Giants of Alash" album, "Civil War in East Kazakhstan, 1917-1922," "Development of Healthcare in East Kazakhstan, 19th - 40s of the 20th Century," "Development of Culture in East Kazakhstan, 19th - 40s of the 20th Century," "The Rise of Virgin and Fallow Lands in Semipalatinsk Priirtyshye, 20-50s of the 20th Century" have been prepared and published.
The Aбай region state archive actively utilizes various forms of promoting archival documents, such as thematic photo-documentary exhibitions, lectures for students of universities and colleges, and publications in mass media and regional internet resources.
Active work is underway to support the Aбай region state archive's website – filling its thematic sections with information to expand external users' access to archival documents. Current information is posted on the Instagram page of the "State Archive of Aбай Region" KMG.
The Aбай region state archive pays special attention to satisfying the legal rights and interests of citizens. Every year, more than 15,000 requests of a social-legal nature come to the Aбай region state archive from citizens of foreign countries and Kazakhstan.
To improve the qualitative composition of the accepted cases, methodological guidance and control over the preservation of documents in 260 organizations that are sources of accumulation are implemented, including the creation of case nomenclature, conducting expert assessments of the value of documents, scientific and technical processing, formation and registration of cases, making inventories, and providing advisory assistance in organizing departmental storage of documents.
Specialists of the Aбай region state archive continue to implement the "Unified Electronic Archive of Documents" information system - information has been entered regarding the funds of the "State Archive of Aбай Region" KMG and its branches, current administrative documents of the Aбай region state archive, etc.
The leading direction of the archive's activities is the digitization of preserved documents in the Aбай region state archive. Currently, a total of 4,544 archival cases have been digitized.
It is a fact that without archival documents, there can be no history of the people or the state, nor of the nation. Even after hundreds of years and the passing of generations, memories of them are preserved as unparalleled and invaluable archival documents.
The address of the archive: Aбай region, Semey city, Abai street, house 84.
Phone: 8 (7222) 52-22-63, email: kgu-gaoa1920@rambler.ru
Director: Musin Bolat Temergaliuly.