Citizens’ appeals within the system of documentation management of the executive authorities in 1960s — 1970s
- DOI
- 10.5922/vestnikhum-2024-4-6
- Pages
- 64-77
Abstract
The article studies complexes of documents that were compiled in the Executive Authorities’ Archives and that are connected with citizens’ appeals to different authorities. The author reveals that it was the local executive bodies that chiefly processed citizens’ appeals, most of which were returned to the Executive Committee for them to be finally solved. Such applications concerned first of all citizens’ particular daily needs, such as electricity and food products supply, public utilities. The data collected from the Krasnodar Region Archive, The Nizhny Novgorod Region Archive and The Saint Petersburg Archive allow considering what constitutes the principal sources of the documents on the history of everyday life. The important information can be found in the complexes of documents, each of which concerns a particular type of letter, such as covering letters from an editorial office or the central governmental body, and explanatory letters of local governmental bodies. Such complexes make it possible to trace the mechanism of the interaction between government and society, to single out the participants of this dialogue and its duration. The mentioned documents show that citizens’ appeals to different authorities can reveal the mosaic pattern of the social space in 1960—1970s, moreover it ascertains how much time it took to solve everyday problems and why people had to knock on every door to get their simple needs satisfied.