family archives and dusty papers

Swept dust from the box of my family archives -- some granddaddy and grandma's old papers, some of them date back to 1939! i.e. pre-World War 2.

Most of the letters are not that old, though - they are from 70-es to 80-es, all the envelopes have the USSR stamps on them. There is no such a country on the world map anymore.

There are certificate of birth, marriage, death and inheritance here, as well as a certificate of primary school completion, and two trade skills books (not sure how it should be translated into English.... the official register that display the professional career and the list of occupations thru the whole life) of my grandfather and grandmother. The earliest of these documents date back to 1939! (It is a school certificate).

A simple postcard, or 'open letter', as they were entitled back then.

What is curious about it: theres a postage mark that notes the addressee must pay 1 ruble for (additional?) service. I never seen such a mark before. Today all mail services are not given "in advance", if you have not paid the full price for the service, then the Post office will simply reject your letter, that simple. Earlier, the things apparently were arranged on a different basis, were conducted on different principles - the postage service was connecting people, not served for money-earning purpoces only. The cost of sending an open letter was 20 kopecks, as you see on the photo. Today, this service costs by 125 times more.

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I am keeping my own letters from 90-es in a medium-sized box, and I wonder what will my grandchildren gonna do with them, hehe. AT least, these old papers could work well as a props -- and I am not sure that mine are so picturesque :P

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The last one, I really do not know exactly who is there at this photo, it is one of the oldest, was taken before 1917 and before the USSR was established, probably it is grandfather's ancestors. Everything is so blurry at such a distance :/

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Al photos taken by me, as usual.