Abstract
The purpose of the article is coverage based on information of archival documents, published sources and research of modern historians of conditions, which was the formation of the modern archival system of Ukraine. The research methodologyis based on the principles of historicism, objectivity and systematics. General and special research methods : quantitative, chronological, retrospective, historiographical analysis, generalization are used. The scientific novelty of the work is comprehensive analysis of archival and published sources on this topic research and comparison of this information. The authors gave an explanation to the concept of «paper famine», identified the causes of its occurrence and gave assessment of the losses suffered by the Ukrainian archives during the years of the paper famine. In the work both the positive and negative aspects of the activities of institutions, who were involved in the creation and development of a network of archival institutions on territory of Ukraine and actually managed the archives Ukraine are highlighted , paying special attention to the activities of Eastpart. Conclusions. The formation of the modern archival system of Ukraine took place in the 1920s and 1930s years in the postwar and post- revolutionary devastation, as well as in the conditions of paper famine and the pressure of the party- command system, which led to creation and existence of two parallel archival systems - state and party and caused ambiguity in the concept of «Unified State Archival Stock».