The article examines the history of collecting documentary and cultural heritage since 1917 and the participation of archives, museums and libraries in the creation of the Archival Fund of the country. In the 1920s and 1930s, archival institutions were established through the efforts of outstanding representatives of Russian culture. At the same period, the structure and activities of the museums created earlier in the Russian state in the 18th – 19th centuries were improved. The new museums that had been opened in various regions of Russia received rescued archival funds, collections and occasional papers. It is shown that during this period there was a discussion about the differentiation of the concepts of an “archive”, “library” and a “museum”. The present work reveals the difficulties in the interaction between museums, libraries and archives in the process of saving the cultural heritage of the state and arranging archival documents; the article also discusses the problems and complications in the formation of the State Archival Fund of the USSR. During this period, the development of normative and methodological documents regulating the main areas of work on the description and registration of records received by state repositories contributed to a more efficient use and publication of the documents stored in the state archives. It is noted that museums and libraries had problems connected with the description of the archival documents accepted for storage, with record keeping and the creation of the finding aids for them, as well as with the possibilities of effective use of the papers. The documents of the manuscript departments of museums and libraries have become part of the unified archival heritage of Russia and, together with the state archives, they now provide information resources for conducting various kinds of historical research.
