The Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has just announced this month the
completion of the database on the immigration papers of the
Likacheff-Ragosine-Mathers (LI-RA-MA) Collection. It now appears online
at <http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/li-ra-ma/001046-130-e.html> and covers the years 1862 to 1922.
From the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, the Imperial
Russian Government maintained consulates throughout North America. The
people who immigrated to North America had many records in the
consultants, and with the Russian Revolution, the consultants closed,
and the materials were gathered up and stored at the National Archives
and Records Administration of the United States.
The records were then divided into the American and Canadian
collections, and the records which were given back to us in 1980 were
the Canadian records created by the Russian Imperial Consular offices
in Montreal, Vancouver, and Halifax.
The LI-RA-MA Collection was named after the last consuls in the three
provinces: A.S. Likacheff, K. Ragosine, and H.I. Mathers. It contains
many personal documents such as passports and identity papers which
were surrendered to the consular officials in return for securing
identity cards that would give them permission to work and live in
Canada.
People at the archives put these papers in separate files representing
an individual immigrant or family, and the papers were divided into
four series. They are:
- Operational records of the Russian Consulate-General in Montreal and the Russian Vice-consulate in Halifax
- The Russian Consulate in Vancouver
- Journals and correspondence of the Russian Consulate-General in Montreal and the Consulate in Vancouver
- Passport/Identity Papers
Each person was asked to complete and submit a questionnaire, along with a photograph, to ensure that either he or she was a genuine Russian citizen.
If you put the name you are researching in the search feature of the database, you will receive an answer that includes:
- name of immigrant (surname & given name)
- other spellings
- marital status
- sex
- religion
- province
- county
- district
- town
- volume
- file number
- microfilm number
- reference number
