Creating the Administrative Apparatus by the National Education Commission Based on its Records from 1773–1776

Abstract

The structure of the administrative apparatus was determined by the National Education Commission in its Statute approved on February 22, 1774. The number of the administrative staff was planned modestly to include only eight officials: two secretaries, two minutes secretaries, one archive worker, a cashier  and two clerks. The Commission started appointing the officials in May 1774. Twelve persons were hired at that time. Over the next few months, the Commission went on to employ other officials, albeit at a much slower rate. Eventually, the Commission created an administrative apparatus that was much more complicated than the one envisaged in the Statute. Apart from the secretaries (one of whom soon resigned from his post in the Commission), its apparatus consisted of three units: the office, cashiers’ offices (located in Warsaw and in Vilnius), and the archive. Legal representative, who were not originally envisaged in the Statute,  were also engaged to provide legal services to the Commission. Such changes in the administrative structure may have been caused by the Commission’s involvement in handling the post-Jesuit property. Under the 1774 and 1776 laws,  the property was transformed into an educational fund administered by the National Education Commission. Managing the fund required the extension of the office, the cashier’s office and the archive.