Belarus Archives and Libraries

National Archives
Belarus has gathered most genealogical sources into two federal archives located in Minsk and Grodno.

National Historical Archive of Belarus (NIAB) st. Kropotkina, 55, 220002, Minsk, Belarus Phones: ( Codes: international 375 17, within Belarus 8 017) 317 75 23; 379 76 92 E-mail: niab@niab.by Website Facebook You Tube In Russian

National Historical Archive of Belarus in Grodno st. Gospodarchaya, 21 230005, Grodno, Belarus Telephone: 8-0152-41-76-52 E-mail: niab@niab.grodno.by Website

Genealogy Finding Aid Parish Records Finding Aid
 * The Metrics site has a finding aid available for Russian Orthodox metrical (parish registers) books. It is organized by gubernia (province) and then by uyezd (county/district).
 * Paid subscribers to Radzima can see metrical books available (fond, opis, delo, and respective archive) for various parishes.

Search Engine of Surnames
 * Instructions/Help
 * To get a list of settlements in which a certain surname is recorded, on the start page, enter the entire surname or part of it in the Belarusian language into the search window, and select the "Surnames" option in the panel below the window.
 * "In the worst case, a person can only know the surname of his ancestors, without any idea in which area they lived. Through the "Help" you can find out in which settlements certain surnames existed at the end of the 19th - the first half of the 20th century. The main source was the lists printed in the historical-documentary chronicles of the cities and districts of Belarus of the "Memory" series. The search system contains information from the lists of participants in the Great Patriotic War and civilians who died during it, as well as from the lists of victims of political repressions of the 1930s-1950s. These lists do not include all, but the vast majority of surnames that existed at the time, with a link to the settlement (the lists of the dead Jews were not processed, as they are available on the Yad Vashem website: www.yadvashem.org). All surnames are given in Belarusian orthography."

Regional and Zonal State Archives

 * Regional and zonal state archives and the zones served by them
 * Within this page entitled "Bodies of archiving and office work and the system of state archival institutions", scroll to the list of links to zones. Click on the link to the zone where your ancestors lived. Within the page for each zone, click on "Characteristics of funds" to see descriptions of the record collections held in that archive.

Libraries
National Library of Belarus Niezaleznasci Ave, 116 Minsk, 220114, Belarus Phone: (8 017) 266-37-02 Fax: (8 017) 266-37-06 E-mail: inbox@nlb.by Website Virtual reference service "Ask a librarian"

Museums
Belarusian National History and Culture Museum Vulica Karla Marksa 12 Minsk, Belarus Phone: +375 17 327-36-65
 * The leading Museum of the historic profile of the Republic of Belarus is the biggest collection of the monuments of material and spiritual culture of the Belarusian people from the ancient times to modern day.

Record Offices
Civil registration offices exist at the local and regional levels. Copies of local registrations are sent to regional offices.

The Bureau of Civil Status Acts (ZAGS) creates and maintains civil registration. The bureau is subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and is separate from the national archive system.

Registration of births must be done within two months of birth and deaths within three days.

Registration offices are collocated with "marriage palaces" permitting the registration and performance of weddings to occur at the same place and time.