A Pest Megyei Levéltár. Levéltárismertető (Budapest, 2004)

Seventeen thousand meters of historical source/Introduction of the main archives

as judicial cases do not belong to the civil suits - provide us with a good notion about the facts of the frontier districts, testimonies, estate fixings, field classification, letters of hypothecations, bills obligatory, peerage attestations, last wills and testaments, enforcements. They are the nationwide conscriptions (1715-1720, 1728, 1828), the registers related to the rates and taxes (dicalis, taxalis - 1635-1847) and the copyholding registers (1715-1785) out of all the registers have significant importance. Regarding the tax registering we must mention that the sequences lor the whole county are from the era before 1770, the following ones were discarded in the middle of the 19

th century for unknown reasons. The tax registering documents are important because they preserve the structure and development of the settlements, keep the name, the social state, jobs of the heads of families paying taxes, show the taxable income, the arable land and the livestock. They also describe the inhabited areas of the settlement, list the forests and the pastures and quite often they refer to the feudal landlord of the settlement and the time when the settlement became inhabited. It is well known that the municipal authority of Pest-Pilis-Solt County was one of the leading organizations formulated the reform efforts battling for establishing the civil class developed at the beginning of the 19

th century. Studying the documents of county committees, offices and different collections besides the convention documents might also be a useful source for those who are deeply interested in the events took place in Pest county between 1825 and 1848 at the county conventions and beyond. If an extraordinary event occurred, or there was a case, or project, which could only be solved through thorough, long and investigating work, then the convention established a special committee for the task. The separately handled documents of these committees or deputations (deputatio) were saved in most cases. For example regarding the cholera epidemic of 1831 demanding an extremely large number of lives, the Reports of the Cholera Committee keep the measures, efforts taken to stop the epidemic, the number of the infected ones and the death toll, the cost of medication, etc. In the documents of the Railroad Expropriation Committee (1841-1848) the Budapest-Vác, and the Budapest-Szolnok railroad expropriation cases can be found. The map sections of the planned railroad system and also the supporting answer or refusal of the settlements involved can be found in the same documents. In the spring of 1847 severe famine tormented the inhabitants. The registration of the poverty-stricken, the assessing the demands and arranging the support given, were completed by the Catering Committee. The task of the "Delegation Taking Care of die Orpiians of the County" was to take care of the possessions and education of the orphans. The head of the delegation usually was the second Vice-Lieu tenant whose job was usually assisted by a prosecutor, the central judge and its jurymen, a town clerk and 8-10 district judges. They had at least four meetings annually; their records were presented to the convention. The orphans of the nobles were directly looked after but they only supervised the affairs of the non-noble orphans as an 164