The article examines historical documents related to the release of the literary and artistic almanac “The Ural Contemporary”, which are in the State Archive of the Sverdlovsk region. The analysis of incomplete scattered materials made it possible to clarify such episodes from the history of the almanac as the problem of its publication and distribution, the quality of texts, reformulation into a journal. The significance of the almanac for the members of the Sverdlovsk branch of the Union of Soviet Writers and the trace in the literature of the Urals of the XX century is determined. The study of the submitted documents contributes to the introduction of previously unquoted and little-studied archival materials into scientific use.