Guberniias


Guberniias (sometimes gubernias, guberniyas) were administrative subdivisions of the Russian Empire. These entities were found in most parts of the Empire, including areas in Eastern Europe outside modern-day Russia. Most guberniias retained their status for a few years under the Soviets, but all eventually saw their territorial borders redefined and these new areas described using different terms (e.g., oblast’). All in all, the guberniia as a jurisdictional unit was used from 1708 to 1929. This chapter provides advice about creating authorized access points for guberniias, including some exploration of the complications of guberniias in the authority file, and ends with a list of guberniias in the Name Authority File below. The list contains permalinks to authority records.

RDA section 16.2 and the accompanying LC-PCC PSs give the cataloger instructions for establishing place names. A summary of these instructions and their application for Slavic place names can be found in Geographic Authorities : Preferred Names and Name Changes. The standard form of name of a guberniia is Adjectival place name + guberniia, e.g., Arkhangelʹskai︠a︡ gubernii︠a︡. To this preferred name, we add a parenthetical geographical qualifier, per 16.2.2.4, e.g., Arkhangelʹskai︠a︡ gubernii︠a︡ (R.S.F.S.R.).

The geographical qualifier should, per the LC-PCC PS for RDA 16.2.2.4, be the latest form of name of the country. The PS clarifies that, for entities which no longer exist, this would be the authorized name for the country which existed at the point of the entity’s demise: “If the smaller place ... has ceased to exist, use as a qualifier the name the larger place had during the period in which the name of the smaller place is applicable.” Use appropriate reference sources to ascertain the period during which the guberniia being established existed (suggestions at end of this page).

Some guberniias were dissolved during the Russian Empire (Novorossiĭskai︠a︡ gubernii︠a︡, for example). Their qualifier should therefore be Russia.

Those guberniias that survived the Russian Empire, some by only a few months but others by over a decade, should be qualified by the relevant form of name of the relevant post-imperial country. For those that were situated in the Russian Soviet republic, the qualifier should be R.S.F.S.R. This is the authorized abbreviated form of Russian S.F.S.R. (RDA Appendix B.11), the jurisdictional name of the Soviet Russian state. For guberniias located in other republics, check the relevant country authority record for guidance (e.g., the authority for Byelorussian S.S.R., the jurisdictional name for the Soviet country, states “Use "Belarus" as qualifier for places within the country”). The cataloger may add, per the LC-PCC PS for RDA 16.4.2, a variant access point with the imperial-era qualifier used (i.e. Russia).

Example (in MARC format):

151 Simbirskai︠a︡ gubernii︠a︡ (R.S.F.S.R.)

451 Simbirskai︠a︡ gubernii︠a︡ (Russia)

670 Simbirskai︠a︡ gubernskai︠a︡ ot︠s︡i︠e︡nochnai︠a︡ kommissīi︠a︡ (Russia). Zhurnal ... 3 sent. 1905: ǂb t.p. (... Simbirskoĭ gubernskoĭ)

670 Bolʹshai︠a︡ rossiĭskai︠a︡ ėnt︠s︡iklopedii︠a︡, via WWW, May 13, 2020: ǂb (Симбирская губерния = Simbirskai︠a︡ gubernii︠a︡, originally Simbirskoe namestnichestvo, established December 23 (new style), 1796; May 9, 1924 renamed to Ulʹi︠a︡novskai︠a︡ gubernii︠a︡)

781 0 ǂz Russia (Federation) ǂz Simbirskai︠a︡ gubernii︠a︡ (R.S.F.S.R.)

Please note that a qualifier (eg R.S.F.S.R. as here) should be always added at the end of the indirect subdivision form, per SHM H 1023, sec.3(b)(2)(ii), and H 830, which states that geographic qualifiers should be in the latest form of the name at the time the entity ceased to exist and that “any other data included in the qualifier to differentiate the heading, including names of obsolete jurisdictions, should be retained in parentheses”.  

Like most guberniias, Simbirskai︠a︡ gubernii︠a︡ did not have a territorially identical successor; this fact dictates that the heading can be applied in subject usage (note the inclusion of the 781 geographical local subdivision field in the example above). It is acceptable for a non-identical successor entity to be provided as a See also reference in an authority record.

Note that, since guberniias were administrative divisions, they are tagged as 151s in the authority file but should be tagged in bibliographic records as 110/710s in descriptive cataloging (to represent the jurisdictional body) and 651s in subject cataloging (to represent the geographical area).

Example (in MARC format):

110 1 Ri︠a︡zanskai︠a︡ gubernii︠a︡ (R.S.F.S.R.)

245 10 Sbornik obi︠a︡zatelʹnykh postanovleniĭ Prezidiuma Ri︠a︡zanskogo gubispolkoma,

deĭstvui︠u︡shchikh na 1928 god.

650 0 Law ǂz Russia (Federation) ǂz Ri︠a︡zanskai︠a︡ gubernii︠a︡.

651 0 Ri︠a︡zanskai︠a︡ gubernii︠a︡ (R.S.F.S.R.) ǂx Politics and government.

In the example above, the guberniia is both the corporate author of the resource and also its geographical subject.

The cataloger should be aware that for a long time guberniias have been treated inconsistently in the Library of Congress authority file. Specific issues include the following:

1. Some guberniias are set up with the formula Place name + parenthetical geographical qualifier + Anglophone jurisdictional qualifier, e.g., Moscow (Russia : Guberniya). At the time of writing, this treatment has been confined to guberniias involving the names of capital cities (Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kiev) and Polish cities (Kielce, Lublin, Płock).

2. While practically no guberniia had a territorially exact successor (and should therefore be valid for descriptive and subject usage), some guberniias have been treated as though they did have such successors. These guberniias exist independently in the Name Authority File but are flagged as not suitable for subject usage. For example, Tul'skai︠a︡ gubernii︠a︡ is not available for subject usage, although it strictly speaking should be. The geographical entity which the subject authority file currently points the cataloger to (Tul'skai︠a︡ oblast’ (Russia)) was created out of parts of different guberniias, with Tul'skai︠a︡ gubernii︠a︡ only partially represented in the oblast’’s territory.

To ensure that geographical qualifiers are applied correctly in the guberniias authority records, in 2020 the ACRL EES Slavic Cataloging and Metadata Committee launched a Task Force on Revision of Name Authority Records for Russian Guberniias. As a result of the Task Force’s work, 111 authority records for all established guberniias were reviewed, enhanced and twelve authority records were changed (see link to the Task Force full report is here)

When establishing guberniias' names, the cataloger should follow relevant RDA rules, LC-PCC PSs, and SHM guidance, and should NOT consider existing guberniia authority records to be templates to follow. Catalogers are strongly encouraged to correct and update incorrect guberniia authorities when they encounter them.

List of guberniias in the Name Authority File

This list contains all authorized access points in the Name Authority File, as of 15 July 2022, featuring the term “guberniia” or “guberniya”. Headings that are listed as authorized headings in the subject authority file are in bold.


Some sources to consult when creating a new or updating existing authority records for guberniias:


1. Большая советская энциклопедия (1st edition, 1926-1947), available online  in PDF format http://in.1543.ru/pub/bse/)

 3. Большая советская энциклопедия (3rd edition, 1969-1981) - online http://bse.uaio.ru/  

4. Большая российская энциклопедия    https://bigenc.ru/

5. Russian Wikipedia for Список губерний and История административно-территориального деления РСФСР


See also:
Russia / Soviet Union / Russia (Federation) Subject Headings
Authorized Access Points for Countries and Areas in the Former Soviet Space


Last revised: October 2022 by Larisa Walsh