Operating procedure

Each request is unique, but there are general principles and stages of my work. I tried to make the entire work process as transparent and safe as possible for the customer.

Payment for work is made in stages, after presentation of the results of the work done. In most cases, there is a result guarantee system in place - that is, the customer pays only for the positive result of the work! Subsequent stages of work are agreed upon and approved by the customer after acceptance of the previous stage. For customers, this creates comfortable conditions for protection from risks.

To get started, it is important for me to understand:

- what exactly do you want to find, learn, receive?

- what do you know about those people whose information and documents interest you?

We can discuss these issues in person or in correspondence.

Based on your initial data, I carry out the preparatory stage of work for free - assessing the possibilities and prospects of archival search at your request, identifying priority areas of research, drawing up a preliminary plan for the first stage of work, possibly writing several alternative search algorithms, calculating the optimal logistics of research trips, if necessary, drawing up cost estimates. The duration of this stage of work is 3–5 working days.

After the preparatory stage of the work, I am ready to meet with you or continue discussing the work by correspondence. I talk about the possibilities and options for conducting research, about areas of search that seem more promising, interesting and/or accessible. We will specify your request, discuss the scope of work at the first stage, logistics and cost estimates. Based on the results of the discussion, we sign an agreement to carry out the work.

As work progresses, as a rule, previously unknown circumstances become clear, work priorities are clarified, and new, more effective search paths are opened. The duration of the first stage of work is usually about one month. During this time, it is usually possible to work with several funds in one or more archives, visit places of events and carry out work on the ground - find and interview old-timers and witnesses, retake documents from home archives, and so on. When concluding a contract, it is necessary to make an advance payment for the trips planned under the contract. In most cases, I am ready to carry out work with a guarantee - my work is paid only if the result is positive. If it was not possible to obtain a result, then the work done is not paid. The terms of the guarantee are written down in the contract.

After completing the first stage of work, I prepare a report and meet with the customer again. I report on the work done and present the results obtained - information, photocopies of documents and extracts from them, photographs, audio or video recordings. I submit a financial report of expenses and receive payment for work performed in accordance with the terms of the contract.

Minimum duration of work – 5 days; in most cases, this time is enough to work in one archive or several archives of one city with documents of one nuclear family (parents and children).

Relatively small studies of the history of three to four generations of one family can be completed within 15–20 working days. During this time, I can process documents in one or two central or several regional archives.

Complex projects related to the history of a family over 200–500 years in various locations, military history, repressions, disappeared people, historical criminology require complex work in central, regional, departmental archives of different regions. 

The research plan can be adjusted depending on the results of the previous stages of work. Agreements on the continuation, deepening or expansion of work are agreed upon at the meeting and are recorded in additional agreements to the contract.

The results of the research can be presented in different ways - in the form of a detailed report, book, family tree, film, etc. It is possible to prepare and print several copies of an exclusive book that will serve more than one generation of your descendants. Such a book is printed on the best designer paper, bound by hand using time-tested methods, and the book block is placed in an embossed leather cover. The research may be of interest to a large circle of people; in this case, it would be advisable to print a small edition of the book. Books that reach interested people and enter central libraries will reliably preserve the memory of your ancestors. It is possible to complete the work without preparing the research results in the form of a book or film; this is a simpler option, but in this case the customer receives a complete set of materials - a detailed report on the research, a set of copies of documents and other materials.

The cost of the work depends on its duration and location. The geography of work and the resulting logistics of research trips are determined by the places of life of the members of the family under study and the localization of the storage locations of the archival funds being studied. The duration of the work depends on the desired result of the work, on the completeness of the source data and on the safety of the documents.

The scarcity of source data or poor preservation of archival funds significantly complicates the work, but positive search results are possible even in the complete absence of any source data, and in the loss of most of the archival documents.

Numerous documents and other traces of the life of every person who lived in the territory of the former USSR and the Russian Empire over the past 300 years, and in some cases more, have been preserved in the archives, as well as on the ground. You just need to find these sources, analyze their authenticity and the reliability of the information they contain. Each document must be considered in comparison with other sources of information and in the context of their creation: who, when, under what circumstances and for what purpose compiled the document. The contradictions between the information contained in different documents are interesting - these contradictions may contain the key to further searches and discoveries. In some cases, a special effort is required to make the sources “speak” - the most significant information can be read not in the text itself, but between its lines.