Records and their use

The Provincial Archives of Joensuu receives and stores records transferred from government agencies in the areas of North Karelia and North Savo. The Provincial Archives also holds old parish records as deposits. Private individuals, organisations and societies have also transferred records to the Provincial Archives.

The Provincial Archives has also acquired a large amount of microfilms. The largest groups of materials are records of parish population registers, copies of historical records from The Genealogical Society of Finland (registers of births, marriages and deaths), provincial accounts, records, registers and minutes of the Senate, passport registers of provincial governments, and files from the court dealing with political crimes relating to the investigations after the war in 1918.

At the end of 2009, the Provincial Archives held over 9,000 shelf-metres of records, over 140,000 microfiche, and nearly 5,000 roll films. The Provincial Archives had around 16,000 maps and drawings catalogued separately.

More detailed information on the records stored in the Provincial Archives is available in the Vakka Archival Database.

The library of the Provincial Archives acquires literature on the history of Finland and above all, on the history and genealogy relating to its own provinces.

The university library is situated next to the building of the Provincial Archives.