"I didn't let them burn those papers." How a church archive with lists of Skirmunt's factory workers and residents of 13 villages was saved in Parečča

Stacks of yellowed papers by the bonfire

The story of the accidental rescue of documents was described in 2014 by historian and archivist Dzianis Liseichykau in the article "Archival treasures of Skirmunt's Parečča," published in the magazine "Archives and Records Management." In it, Antonina Sidaruk recalled how she once saw children near the local church who were about to burn old papers.

"I didn't let them burn those papers; like Plyushkin, I brought them home, even though my mother was indignant," she told the archivists.

The exact year of this story is not given in the publication — it is only known that it happened during Soviet times.

Antonina Paŭlaŭna was not a casual collector of antiquities. A native of Parečča, she graduated from the local school, and then worked there herself for many years: she was a senior pioneer leader, an extended-day group educator, a Belarusian language and literature teacher, and eventually — the director. Everything related to the history of Parečča, as well as the fate of Parečča school student Jaŭhienija Janiščyc — she diligently collected for the school museum.

Sidaruk herself smilingly called it "Plyushkinism": "I don't throw anything away, I take everything to the museum." It was precisely thanks to this habit that the papers from the churchyard did not disappear either.

Павялічыць

What was in the rescued documents?

Staff of the National Historical Archive of Belarus learned about the unusual discovery from the researcher of Skirmunt's history, Aleś Smalenčuk. In March 2014, archivists traveled to the Pinsk district to meet Antonina Sidaruk and determine the origin of the papers she kept. It turned out that this was a fragment of the archive of the Parečča Nativity of the Theotokos Church. Among the documents, confessional and clerical records of the Parečča and Atoŭčycy churches for 1846–1925 were preserved.

The geography of the documents covers Alšanka, Atoŭčycy, Vieliasnica, Zakuccie, Karalin, Krotava, Mierčycy, Niasioly, Poŭkačycy, Parečča, Rudka, Skaracichy, and Cierviardoŭka. The records indicated residents, their age, and the full composition of families.

The funds of the National Historical Archive of Belarus already contained metric books of the Parečča church for 1798–1930 and Atoŭčycy for 1798–1877, in which records of birth, marriage, or death can be found. The records rescued by Sidaruk add another dimension — the family composition at a specific point in time. For example, a person's age allows for an approximate calculation of the birth year, the names of relatives help find the next generation, and the name of the village helps understand which parish to continue the search in. For small Polesian villages, where the same surnames appear in several families, such information is especially valuable.

Antonina Sidaruk herself well understood the potential of such documents. She studied Jaŭhienija Janiščyc's genealogy and, according to archivists' recollections, could tell who among the residents of Parečča was related to whom and to what degree. But in the rescued papers, another category of records was found, which takes the story beyond ordinary village genealogy.

215 local workers and two foreigners

On separate sheets, workers and their relatives from Skirmunt's cloth factory were listed — a well-known enterprise that produced its first goods exactly 190 years ago, in 1836. The enterprise was small at first but quickly grew: according to Aleś Smalenčuk's research, by 1843, two foreign specialists and 215 local workers were employed there. And in 1859 — 16 masters and 382 workers, who produced about 120 thousand arshins of cloth per year. At the factory, Skirmunt built houses with 90 apartments for married workers, dormitories, maintained a doctor and a hospital with 12 beds, and a school for children operated.

There are also very small human stories in the factory's history. One of the foreign masters — the Frenchman Ksavery Maŭros — arrived with his wife in Parečča in July 1844. At the end of the year, he appealed to the authorities with a request to allow him to stay at the factory for permanent residence. Foreign specialists not only worked themselves but also had to train masters from among local residents.

Павялічыць

Such figures clearly show the scale of the enterprise. But statistics almost always leave people nameless: "215 workers," "382 workers," "masters." Church records allow the opposite — to return names, ages, families, and places of residence to these numbers.

Papers that were supposed to disappear

During a meeting with employees of the National Historical Archive of Belarus, Antonina Sidaruk was told about possible options for the further preservation of the documents. She unhesitatingly offered to transfer them for state preservation.

Archivists specifically noted that similar documents have significantly greater value when preserved not individually in private collections, but as part of a single complex. Then confessional records can be compared with metric books, other church documents, and materials about the factory itself.

Skirmunt's Parečča cloth factory can be remembered for its 190-year production anniversary, its owners the Skirmunts, foreign masters, steam engines, and huge stone buildings on the banks of the Yaselda. But in a few yellowed church records, another story remained — the names of the people who worked at this factory and their relatives. And today these documents are available to researchers because once, in the yard of an abandoned church, Antonina Sidaruk did not pass by a bonfire.

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