Records and their use

The Provincial Archives of Mikkeli holds records from the regions of South Savo, South Karelia, Kymenlaakso and the ceded territories of Karelia.

The Provincial Archives accepts records which are to be stored permanently from government authorities in its archives district when the records have reached the age of 40 years. In addition, it is responsible for safeguarding municipal, church and private archival material that belong to the national cultural heritage and, if necessary, for taking them into possession for storage.

Customers can search the materials of the Provincial Archives online using the Vakka Archival Database and the Register of Private Archives (only in finnish). The archive inventories stored according to administrative sector that are in the research room also act as indexes for the material held in the Provincial Archives of Mikkeli.

The oldest record in the Provincial Archives of Mikkeli dates from 1455 and the continuous series of records start at the end of the 17th century. The Provincial Archives currently stores almost 12,000 shelf-metres of records. The collections of the Provincial Archives contain around 200,000 maps and drawings.

The special quality of the source material of the Provincial Archives is based on records and maps of state and municipal authorities as well as parishes of the area of Karelia ceded to Russia, which are stored in Mikkeli as a legacy of the Provincial Archives of Vyborg: they attract researchers every year from all over Finland.