The research focuses on the organization and main aspects of Zemskyi Archives in Lviv 1919–1933. The beginning of Archives activity is dated October 1 1919, when existing since 1784 Regional Archives of Grodskyi and Zemskyi Acts in Lviv became part of the newly established system of archival institutions in revived Polish state, getting a new official name – Zemskyi Archives in Lviv. The high scientific and social level gained by Archives became valuable basis for the organization of archives affairs at that time. Archives which fonds were dated 1368–1894 preserved the largest collection of act books of grodskyi and zemskyi courts, and also the valuable parchments, documents and books of City Councils and public governments, various acts of legal life in Galicia towns and villages, cadastrial inventories given for deposition by government organizations and private people. Archives staff consisted of a director, a custodian, an archivist, an archival assistant, applicants and a steward, whose duties were determined by specific regulations. The Archives staff had remained unchanged for a long time in number as well as personally. Most of them were archivists with long-time experience, high professional and academic qualifications (O. Baltser, A. Prohaska, G. Polyachkivna, K. Malechynskyi and V. Heynosh). Having the latest and providing the research were the necessary demands to get a job in the Archives. Due to this fact Archives turned into important scientific center and were different from other archival establishments in Poland at that time. Zemskyi Archives occupied the building of Bernardine monastery and were used as studies and the storehouse. The condition of the building was not good enough. The lack of free space to place the documents and the lack of heating negatively influenced on the preservation of the documents leading to overfilling of the storehouse, insufficient ventilation, increasing of the level of the humidity. Despite of this fact, the state of preservation of books, with the exception of certain acts and fascicules infected with mold, was defined as satisfied. Providing repair works, implementing fire-prevention protection, keeping the proper order and cleanliness to avoid the pests and mold improved the conditions of document preservation. Working with the documents preserved in the Archives was carried out in two ways: putting in order grodskyi and zemskyi act books and making inventories for documents received for preserving. However, long-term work which resulted in making scientific reference system to the act books, systematization of Galician City Council and public government documents, Josephinska and Franciscanska cadastrial inventories were not put in a general index of Archives fonds. The cause of this was a great amount of documents, intensive schedules and specific conditions, in which the Archives staff had to work. The implementation of this plan took place after the liquidation of the Archives in 1933–1936. The access to archives documents was carried out for state and local governments, individuals and academic institutions with official, research and private purposes. The main forms of the access were: the researches’ work with the documents in the Archives reading room, providing documents for temporary use outside Archives, providing archival searches, making copies of archival documents. All Archives arranged documents in good physical condition which were more than 50 years old and there were no specific prohibitions by public authorities, depositors or donators were accessible to visitors. The systematic increase in the number of researchers (scientists, genealogists and others) and archival searches indicated the high level of interest to the documents and contributed to increasing Archives social role and prestige. Zemskyi Archives in Lviv since the very beginning of its activity was the place of providing scientific researches. Its research and archeographical activity was directly connected with the scientific achievements of the archivists. They, in addition to their professional duties, conducted an active teaching work at the university departments, played the leading roles in the activities of numerous scientific societies and institutions. The researches in the spheres of general history, political system history, archival and special historical disciplines were provided by the archivists, and the result of their work became source edition prepared by them on the basis of documents and court archives books and other sources of archival and library collections. Some kind of Archives calling card was fundamental edition of “Akta grodzkie i ziemskie z czasow Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z archiwum tak zwanego bernardynskiego we Lwowie”, 25 volumes of which had been published for 1868–1935.
