Each presenter has a brief abstract with a link to their paper. These PDF files will open in a new tab.
The Making of Sitka’s Nineteenth-Century “Pleasure Ground”:
Russian and Finnish Interactions with the Local Landscape
Arnold R. Alanen, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus
Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Wisconsin-Madison
For thousands of years the area now encompassed by Sitka National Historical Park served as a Tlingit hunting, fishing, gathering, and ceremonial site. Following the arrival of Russian colonists, who were accompanied by Finns and other groups, the area was transformed into a “pleasure ground” for the European residents. Besides its scenic and recreational attributes, the district also provided scientists with opportunities to engage in scientific observations. This presentation features Russian and Finnish perceptions of the landscape, and the different activities that occurred on the site. The interactions of Europeans and Tlingit at the site will also be discussed. Paper
A Small Colony with a Big Drinking Problem: Alcohol in Russian America.
Evgenia V. Anichenko
Anchorage Museum
Along with cultural and social changes, Russian Orthodoxy, diseases, metal tools and literacy, Russian colonization brought new foods and beverages to Alaska. Alcohol, the fabled trademark of Russian social life, was omnipresent in Russian America. Its consumption reflected complicated economic and cultural patterns of Russian colonies in the New World. This paper traces the history of alcohol in Russian Alaska: from the first explorers to the organized import of rum, from smuggling and moon-shining operations to the formation of the first abstinence societies. Alcohol played a prominent role in the everyday life of the colonies, and affected more processes than we tend to realize. Paper
A Rich Legacy: Lessons From and Significance of Russian America to the Study of American History
Jo Antonson, Alaska State Historican, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer
Russian America tends to be overlooked in the study of the history of American colonization. This paper will look at Russia’s colonial empire, how Sitka and Unalaska were international ports-of-call into the 1840s, and what is notable about the Russian consideration of the Creoles - among other examples -to argue for including consideration of the Pacific Coast when discussing America’s colonial years. The presentation will profile historic buildings and archaeological sites that have, and continue, to help with the teaching and study of Alaska’s history. It will conclude with how interpretations of Russian America have evolved in the last thirty years.
Sitka's Tainted Sugar Scare
Katherine L. Arndt, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Though Novo-Arkhangel'sk was the capital of Russian America and the largest Russian settlement in the colonies, its small population and relative isolation rendered it peculiarly vulnerable to the actions of a single unbalanced individual. When that individual was the town's sole physician who was spreading rumors of poison in the food supply, colonial chief manager Chistiakov had to act quickly to rid the colonies of a disruptive element and restore public confidence. This paper discusses the case of Dr. Simon Benevskii, whose unsubstantiated claims of contaminants in the sugar and other foodstuffs sold at the company store in May 1828 threatened to panic the local populace. Paper
How the Fort Ross Club keeps Russian America Alive in Irkutsk
Maria Barsukova, Elena Yemelyanova, Irkutsk Fort Ross Club
Irkutsk is 350 years old in 2011. But most of its citizens do not know of its rich legacy as the well-spring of Russian America. The Russian-American Company head office was situated in Irkutsk, and the majority of shareholders were Irkutsk merchants, most prominently Grigoriy Shelikhov. History is fading. There is no Irkutsk museum of Russian America. But a public youth organization, the Irkutsk-Fort Ross Club, keeps the study and interpretation of the RAC alive through research, public exhibits, field trips and archeology. Two exhibits shown at this conference are a result of the Club’s work in preparation for the 350th Anniversary in 2011. Paper
The Story of the Ninilchik Community: Interaction Between the Russians and Native Alaskans
Mira Bergelson, Lomonosov Moscow State University
One of the major locations where direct descendants of the 19th century Russians, employees of the Russian American Company, still reside and preserve their cultural and linguistic heritage is the village of Ninilchik in the Kenai peninsula. In this paper we report the results of our research on the origins, development and functioning of the Alaskan Russian dialect, analyze it against the background of the mainstream Russian language, and look into the impact of native Alaskan cultures and languages upon this dialect. The Ninilchik linguocultural situation presents a rare example of a complex interplay between three cultural and linguistic elements: Russian, Native Alaskan, and the later Anglophone American. The materials and results of this project shed light on the evolution of the current Ninilchik community. Paper
Education: Natalia Shelikhova to St. Herman
Dawn Lea Black
New documents will be read and/or discussed which have not appeared widely or at all in English: three brief letters of St. Herman about some new books which were brought to Alaska between 1819-1822, a concise list of early Russian godparents with the original native names and the baptismal names of their Kodiak area godchildren, and a century old newpaper article about two Alaskan native people who went to learn, live and work for the I.L. Golikov business in Russia plus highlights of the bilingual cooperative translations in Alaska and the educational opportunities and experiences in Alaska. Paper
A Voice from Castle Hill in New Archangel 1859-1862
Annie Constance Christensen, Associate Professor (retired) of the University of Aarhus, Denmark
Anna von Schoultz met Johan Hampus Furuhjelm at a ball on Christmas Eve 1858 in Helsinki. Newly appointed governor of Russian Alaska, he had come home to find a wife. They were married on February 2. A few hours after the ceremony they departed on a sledge for Alaska. On the evening of the same day she wrote the first letter to her mother. I shall cover her letters from 'Goverment's House', where she tells her mother about dinners, balls and theatre at the club, skate parties, medicine, books, music, her opinion of Russian priests, Indians, creoles and servants. Paper
Russian American Nautical Charts and Oceanographic Activities in the 19th Century
John Cloud, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
This paper will explore the Russian maps, charts, atlases and other materials transferred by Russian authorities to George Davidson of the US Coast Survey in Sitka in 1867, as well as a unique set of maps of the geography between the Lynn Canal on the Alaska coast and the Yukon River at Fort Selkirk. The latter set was drawn after an 1869 expedition by Davidson, Tlingit chief Kohklux and his two wives. All of these maps were used intensely in the 19th century, and then sequestered in archives unseen. Through a scanning project they have recently been uncovered for display at the Conference.
American Trading Posts in Russia
John Crow, University of Alaska-Anchorage, Institute of Social and Economic Research
When the Russian icebreakers Taymyr and Vaygach arrived in Provideniya Bay in 1910 the crew noted with dismay that the local natives spoke English not Russian. They complained that this Russian province seemed more like an extension of the United States. For the most part these resident traders arrived in Chukokta via Nome and through their relationship with the Northeast Siberia Company, a Russian American Joint Venture. The story of three of these traders, Olaf Swenson, Bend Wall, and Clarendon Carpendale illustrate how Americans came to live in Chukotka and their fate after the Russian Revolution. Paper
Russian Cultural Change / Stability in Russian America: Examining Kolmakovsky Redoubt, Part II
Timothy (Ty) L. Dilliplane, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
The research objective of the overall project is to identify and explain maintenance and/or change of traditional Russian culture at two settlements in Russian Alaska: the somewhat isolated colonial capital of New Archangel, and the much more isolated Kolmakovsky Redoubt, a far-removed Russian outpost in Southwestern Alaska. The paper to be presented here is a continued intensive, and final, look at daily lifeways at Kolmakovsky Redoubt. A wide array of sources will be checked, to include data derived from archaeological excavations—as reported by Oswalt—at the site. It is hoped that this overall study will significantly increase our understanding of how isolation from the cultural homeland may or may not affect cultural lifeways. Paper
Russian Icons in Alaska
Ana Dittmar, Ph.D., Chief of Resources, Sitka National Historical Park
This presentation will focus on early Russian icons in America which made their way across the ocean to Alaska to portray the spiritual reality of Russian Orthodox Christianity. More than mere Byzantine liturgical art, icons were created as earthly windows into the heavenly realms and provided heaven a view of earth. In Sitka, icons and other valuable Church objects distributed by Russian clergy as awards to Tlingit parishioners, according to clan social organization and traditions of inheritance, were treated as quasi-crest objects or at.oow. Icons and regalia originating from Russia before 1867 continue to be perceived as more spiritually powerful and prestigious by Russian Orthodox and other people in Alaska.
Possible Clues to Chirikov’s Lost Crewmen
Don Douglass,
Douglass, Hemingway & Co.LLC.
In 1741 the Bering/Chirikov Expedition ship, St. Paul, disembarked two boats off Lisianski Strait in SE Alaska to search for water. The tragic disappearance of fifteen crewmen remains a mystery. A re-enactment by Don & Réanne Douglass in June 2007 aboard their Research Vessel, Baidarka, developed a best fit of all the available data. Comparisons of Chirikov’s log (Golder) with on-water and shore-side research lead to a Debarkation Point.
From this position, the longboat could have followed a nearly straight line through the maze of rocks, islets and kelp beds that leads to small, well-protected Canoe Cove with a permanent fresh-water supply. Below the highest tideline in the cove, the author discovered a very old, decaying dagger in sea grass and brush. Could this piece be part of a fleet master’s equipment? See Douglasses’ route map in Exploring the Inside Passage to Alaska,(ISBN 0-938665-33-2), 1993. Paper
A.F. Kashevarov and the Construction of Russian-American Identities
Dr. Roxanne Easley, Department of History, Central Washington University
This presentation examines the construction of Alaskan colonial identities through the experiences of Alaskan creole Major General Aleksandr Filippovich Kashevarov (1809-1866.) Kashevarov was an extraordinarily successful ship captain, explorer, cartographer, port commander, and imperial servitor, accomplishments that owed much to the “civilizing” policies of the Russian American Company. In his public writing, however, Kashevarov characterized the Company as exploitative. Kashevarov’s insistence on his native Alaskan identity and his apparent choice of an ascribed Russian one reveal the inclusiveness of Russia’s policies toward creoles, but also the ambiguity of Russian colonial strategies as expressed in the worldview of creoles themselves. Paper
In Search of a People Lost: the Finns in Russian America and their Descendants
Maria Jarlsdotter Enckell MFA, The Sitka Godenhjelm Project Phase II,
Honorary Member of Åland Islands Emigrant Institute
The many Finns recruited by the Russian American Company, differed, with their cultural and religious heritage, quite distinctly from the Russian and many Alaska Native cultures. Within this larger community of non-Finns, the Finns formed their own Lutheran community. Herein splits occurred along several lines: language-wise between the Finnish, Swedish, Finnish-Karelian, Baltic-German, Estonian, and Latvian speakers, and along lines of social and military rank. Over time this many faceted Lutheran community also created splits through the many marriages made across the Russian-held North Pacific region’s many cultural, ethnic and religious lines. Historical records reveal an abundance of such examples. Paper
The Character of the Russian Occupation of Alaska
Allan Engstrom, Juneau Scholar
Two main features distinguish the Russian occupation and rule in Alaska. They had a sensitivity in conduct with the Native peoples that was lacking in many instances by examples of English and American behavior. The Russians also had a unique ability to completely adapt to local conditions, to live with the Native people, to wear their style of clothing, to eat their food with relish, and to intermarry freely. When we talk of the Russian occupation we are dealing with only a few hundred men spread out over a 2000 mile rim of settlement, from the distant islands of the Aleutian chain to as far south as Sea Otter Bay, near the present-day city of Craig. Paper
Joseph McCain
Elton Engstrom, Juneau Scholar
Joseph O’Cain was a prominent fur trader and “Boston Man” on the Northwest Coast in the late 1790’s and early 1800’s. He was a close associate of Alexander Baranov, Governor of Alaska, with whom he planned and carried out the first trip to California in 1804 to hunt the sea otter. During a long voyage from Kodiak to Asia and back, he struck a reef in the Aleutians, where survivors were succored by a community of Aleut people living nearby. This is where the story begins – with the shipwreck and the help of the local people, a partnership, if you will, in good and tough times. Paper
George Davidson in Sitka: the Transfer of Russian Cartographic Knowledge to the United States
Marvin W. Falk, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Alaska-Fairbanks
In 1867 George Davidson of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey came to Alaska to gather as much data as possible for a report to Congress in defense of the purchase of Alaska. There he enjoyed the full cooperation of Russian officials who provided him with a large collection of maps and navigational charts. The University of Alaska's Rasmuson Library has a large collection of Davidson's maps acquired in Sitka. Davidson annotated more than 100 of them in pencil in preparation for his various reports and maps. This illustrated presentation will analyze Davidson's annotations and compare the original Russian charts with the U.S. maps derived from them. Paper
Kirill Khlebnikov’s California Correspondents, 1823-1833
Glenn Farris, Fort Ross Interpretive Association
Kirill Khlebnikov’s journals of his trips to California have provided wonderful details of his activities and observations in California in the early 1820s. Khlebnikov provided much important information on activities in California. Recently, the Fort Ross Interpretive Association has embarked on a project to translate a number of letters, notes and reports from various Russian Archives. Among these were a number of letters written to Khlebnikov by California friends and acquaintances representing clerical and civil authorities as well as merchants. The tone as well as the content of these letters provides insight into the California population and its relation to the Russian American Company. This paper will introduce people to this story of Khlebnikov’s California correspondents. Paper
Lingit Aani aya, yaa haa aani Lingit haa latseen. This is Lingit land. Lingit land is strength.
Thomas Gamble, Sitka National Historical Park
The creation of the Lingit begins with Raven, the mysterious creature that gave life to the sun, the moon, the stars and the people of Lingit Aani, aka “Southeast Alaska.” While scholars deem them as etiological myths, these are the foundations of Lingit identity to the present day. Lingit place names reveal historical accounts of migration patterns, use of resources and settlement. Research provides conclusive evidence of occupation and use through place names that often reference geographical features, or even specific resources. The Lingit retain historical knowledge of use of the land and resources for more than ten thousand years. Paper
Research on Russian America: What is to be Done?
James R. Gibson, York University
Remarks on some of the underused sources (not only Russian) and promising topics (many and varied), primarily with respect to the colony's third charter period (1840s-1860s) under the Russian-American Company. Paper
The Rise and Fall of Lake Redoubt, 1805-1845
James R. Gibson, York University
An exploration of the operations (fishing, flour milling, sawmilling, tanning, thermal bathing), benefits, and problems (Tlingit hostility, cyclical fish runs, flooding, mismanagement, freighting) of Lake Redoubt (and the nearby hot springs) from its founding in 1805 until its downgrading in the middle 1840s. Paper
Bilingual Contacts of the Russian and Tlingit in Russian America
Larisa Anatol’yevna Glatskova, Irkutsk State University of Railway Engineering
A main source of information about Russian America comes from narratives drawn from the original language of the Tlingit. This is a new field of research on language contact. Folklorists have commonly attempted to distinguish between myths, legends, tales and stories. Stories, based on historic events, are narratives of witnessed events that have been transmitted, with greater or less embellishment, to subsequent generations. Traditional narratives tend to have an episodic or picaresque character. Patterns in the relative similarity of shared narratives are almost entirely dictated by the historic-period propinquity of the groups sharing narratives. Few if any patterns reflect preferential sharing among historically dispersed groups that originally shared a common linguistic descent. Paper
One Hundred Forty Three Years after Russian America: the Russian Language without Russians
Evgeny Golovko, St. Petersburg Institute for Linguistic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
The paper results from the field work conducted by the author in Kodiak City, Port Lions, Ouzinkie, Anchorage, Kenai, and Ninilchik in 2008 and 2009. The research was done in the framework of the project ‘Documenting Alaskan and Neighboring Languages’, funded by the National Science Foundation, under Principle Investigator Dr. Michael Krauss. This presentation will examine the sociolinguistic and structural features of two ‘Old Russian’ language varieties still spoken today – Afognak idiom and Ninilchik idiom. Paper
Portrait of a Czar
Peter Gorman, Alaska State Museums/Sheldon Jackson Museum
The portrait of Tsar Alexander Nicholaus II, which now hangs in the reception room of the Russian Bishop's House - part of Sitka National Historical Park - has connections to some of Alaska’s most important historical figures and institutions. The painting was originally sent in 1858 to Innokentii Shaiashnikov, a priest on the island of Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands. The history of this portrait sheds light on important, if unknown, aspects of the history of Alaska from the end of the Russian American period, the Russian Revolution, and the State of Alaska in the 21 century. Paper
Peculiarities of Social Mobility of the Creole Population in Russian America
Andrei Grinev, Department of Humanities, St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Russia
Although the emergence and development of the Creole (mixed-blood) population in Russian America has been well researched, no scholar has yet explored the social mobility of this social group. Some scholars approach them as the indentured servants of the Russian American Company while others believe that this was a privileged estate of Russian America. This paper attempts to examine the real status of the Creoles and their upward mobility. It is based on Who was Who in Russian America: A Comprehensive Biographical Dictionary, recently compiled, and currently translated into English by Andrei Znamenski and Ryan Jones. The dictionary profiles hundreds of Creole biographies. Paper
The Early Russian American Artel on Adak Island
Margan Allyn Grover, Bold Peak Archeological Services
For decades, small-scale Russian fur traders moved across Russia, eventually arriving in Kamchatka and the Kurile Islands. Lydia Black wrote of these men: “There was no peace in Kamchatka…. These men were rough and unruly, ready to face any hardship, even death, their physical courage unquestioned.” The 1741 Bering and Chirikov expedition confirmed the existence of the Aleutian Islands and mainland Alaska, and revealed a region rich in resources. Within a year, the “rough and unruly” promyshlenniki headed to Alaska. This paper will explore the story of one such crew, what happened to them, and whether their camp can ever be found. It will also include updates from the field surveys of 2009 and 2010. Paper
"..Signs Appropriate and Natural..": Russian Territorial Markers and Gifts to Alaska Natives
Steve Henrikson, Curator of Collections, Alaska State Museum
Russian adventurers, sailing eastward along the north Pacific coast in the late 1700's, left behind various "calling cards" as tangible evidence of their visits--sculptures of the double headed eagle, presented to Native American leaders, and metal plates with Cyrillic messages, buried in secret, overtly and covertly staked Russia's territorial claims in North America. A variety of objects--crests, medals, clothing, brass hats, and copper shields--were gifted to prominent Native leaders to settle disputes, solidify trade agreements, and reward leaders for their cooperation. This presentation examines the tradition of these markers and gifts, and reviews the surviving examples.
Naturalists, Aleuts and Early Whaling in Russian America
Ryan Jones, Appalachian State University
From the beginning of Russian exploration of Alaska, naturalists devised grandiose plans for developing a national whaling industry based in the North Pacific. Their early visions give us insight into the way that Alaska was imagined as a part of the Russian Empire, seen as both a source of lucrative natural resources and a potential bridgehead into East Asian trade. However, a large-scale, export whaling industry never developed during the years of Russian colonization. Instead, a unique Aleut-Russian collaborative whale fishery came into being. Characteristic of the nature of Russian colonization, Russian subjects learned environmental practices from local conquered peoples instead of reacting to imperial designs developed in St. Petersburg.
The Fort Ross Bicentennial
Robin Joy, Fort Ross State Park, Fort Ross Interpretive Association
This presentation will bring conferees up to date on news from Fort Ross, which is planning its 200-Year Bicentennial at Fort Ross in 2012: educational programs, volunteer programs, special events, and the work with the Fort Ross Interpretive Association (FRIA). There will be a special focus on how the park integrates past and current research into programs, why this research is needed and how it becomes relevant. Fort Ross has a lot to offer and share. The staff and the FRIA seek to forge closer relationships with counterparts in Sitka and throughout all of the former Russian America in Alaska, creating partnerships and friendships that will last beyond 2012. Paper
Colonel George Kostrometinoff: From a Creole Teenager to the Number One Russian-American Citizen of Sitka
Prof. Sergei Kan, Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College
After 1867, the majority of Sitka's "Russian" population was Creoles, many of Russian-Alutiiq descent. Their presence undermined American assumptions about naturally-separate races. Demoralized and destitute, they were the subject of contempt as “half-breeds," a category that placed them above the local Tlingit but lower than “white” residents. Only a handful of Creoles integrated into the new Euro-American society, including Sergei Kostromitinov (1854-1915), a distinguished cultural mediator between the Indian, Creole and American communities, and a successful businessman. Kostromitinov, known to the Americans as "Colonel George Kostrometinoff," hid his Creole ancestry and emphasized his "respectable Russian" roots and pride in his American "citizenship by purchase." Paper
Archeology of the Irkutsk Headquarters Sites of the Russian-American Company
Artur Viktorovich Kharinskiy, Irkutsk State Technical University,
Archaeological Research in the Center of Irkutsk
During 2007-2008 a group of Russian and American archeologists excavated a site near the former office of Russian-American Company, which was situated in Irkutsk from 1807 until 1868. This paper will describe the process and discoveries of the Test Units 1-3. Each test unit had dimensions of 2x2 meters. One test unit yielded nothing but a modern water pipe and that excavation was stopped. The two other test units produced a much more significant find – eight distinct cultural layers formed in Irkutsk during the 17-20th century, producing ceramic and glass vessel shards, iron items, a windowpane, mica and the remnants of various domestic animals, as well as a Siberian from 1772. Paper
Russian Influence upon the Culture of an Interior Alaskan Community
Andrej A. Kibrik, Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences
At the time of Russian America, Russians were mostly in contact with coastal native tribes. This talk is devoted to a much less expected influence. In the middle of interior Alaska (Nikolai and Telida) resides a small native group – Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskans (UKA). They belong to the Russian Orthodox faith. Older UKA people remember many Old Church Slavonic songs and chants. Major family names go back to Russian personal names or nicknames, such as Nikolai, Esai, Pitka, Petruska, etc. UKA nominal lexicon contains about 80 Russian borrowings, for example suhale ‘crackers’, from Russian suxari. The form of Russian borrowings permits one to reconstruct the network of old inter-ethnic contacts in Alaska. Paper
The Battle of 1804 Through the Eyes of the Tactician
John Dusty Kidd, Centennial Team, Sitka National Historical Park
The Battle of 1804 is usually viewed through the political and cultural lens. This paper will examine the Battle through a third lens – the eyes of the tacticians and warriors. At the time of this conflict, battles all over the world took one of seven forms. Six of those forms of battle were prosecuted at the Battle of 1804. Only a very few of those who fought were trained, professional soldiers. The rest were hunters, sailors and gatherers. How were they equipped for battle? What were the challenges of leading these young men? What mistakes were made? What must it have been like for the men themselves? Paper
Paintings as Historical Documents: The Intrigue of the Wrangel Family Collection in the Anchorage Museum
Marilyn Knapp, Chief Curator, Anchorage Museum at Rasmusen Center
My paper will describe a journey which took Anchorage Museum collections staff from skeptics to believers in the discovery of seven paintings from the Wrangel period of Russian America; four oils-on-canvas of the Sitka water front, two pastel portraits, and one oil-on-canvas portrait. I will describe how the images confronted us with a mystery, one which conference participants may help us solve. As the pieces were cleaned and the old varnish removed the paintings presented us with unexpected information. Images which had been covered by grime and over painting revealed more on the Sitka waterfront than we had imagined! Paper
The Chirikov Riddle: Is Surge Bay the Answer?
Vladimir Kolychev, President , Russian American Historical Enlightenment Society
Fifteen men of the St. Paul under the command of Aleksei Chirikov were mysteriously lost off the coast of Yakobi Island in 1741. Based upon archival research as well as trips to the area with Allan Engstrom and others, we feel that Surge Bay is the most likely spot where the men were lost. Further research will include an underwater archaeological survey of the area which is tentatively planned for 2010. The presentation will address the results of our research and future plans concerning Yakobi Island and Surge Bay. The mystery of the lost Chirikov men remains the greatest riddle in the history of the Northwest Coast and Russian America. Paper
Collections on Peoples of Russian America in Museums of Russia and Estonia
Sergey Korsun, Kunstkamera Museum, St. Petersburg
Northern Europe is home to many museums which hold collections focused on Russian America and the people who loved there. In Russia and Estonia alone there are more than 20 museums which house ethnographic collections focused on the peoples of Russian America. This presentation will review each of those collections – what they contain, how they are displayed and how they can be used for research. In addition, the presentation will be accompanied by literature focused on each collection, and on each museum. Paper
Walking through the places of Russian America in Irkutsk
Nadezhda Kuklina, Fort Ross Club, Irkutsk
Founded in 1661 as Siberian fort, Irkutsk was a crossroads of trade and political influence from Moscow to Mongolia and China, and then to the Pacific coast and America. Those origins are apparent all over the city: the Irkutsk Orthodox churches of the XIII century, Shelikhov’s grave, the Russian-American Company Irkutsk office. This presentation will provide a virtual guided tour defining the role of Irkutsk in the settling the coast of North America in the XIII - XIX centuries, through which we stir patriotic feelings and learn the history of Russian America. The inscription on the Shelikhov monument says it all: "Do not forget, child, that your Russian ancestor is famous far in the East" . Paper
Three Women – One Home
Alexandra M. Lindgren, Consultant, The Kenaitze Tribe
I define myself as a Dena’ina woman, also of Russian and Swedish ancestry. My paper explores the environment - increased appreciation for Alaska Native culture and history and a personal awareness of how Russian culture shaped my early childhood - in which I chose this definition. In the past, my decision might have brought social censure and economic disadvantage. My mother and maternal grandmother chose to be identified differently. The social context of their times led them to self-identify as only Dena’ina and only Russian. I set tribal sovereignty, ANCSA, forced assimilation, the impact of Russian orthodoxy, epidemics, and loss of language and culture in the context of three women’s lives and end my paper with hope for future generations.
Dimitri Bocharov
Dee Longenbaugh, Observatory Bookstore, Juneau
Dimitrii Ivanovich Bocharov was a true Russian rascal who flourished between 1771 and 1791. The specifics of his early life are unknown. We know he was sent to Siberia, escaped to Canton with the infamous bogus Count Beniowski, was arrested there, somehow talked his way to France and then home to Russia. Sent by a fur trading company specifically to the Kuriles, he slipped off to the Aleutians, smoothed over his disobedience, and then joined the Russian American Company. An expert sailor, he could well have captained one of the ships bringing Gregorii Shelikov and his party to establish Kodiak. In 1788 he and G. G. Izmailov buried possession plates while mapping from the Kenai Peninsula to Yakutat. He also made other maps, especially of Kodiak. Paper
Ålanders
Britt Lundberg, Deputy Head
the Government of Åland
The Åland Islands represent a unique corner of Russian American history. The furthermost western portion of the Russian Empire during the Russian American era, and now an autonomous province of Finland, the Åland Islands sent its sons and daughters far, far to the east, across the Russian landscape, across Siberia and along the Alaskan coast to settle and become a part of Russia’s unique colonial history. Though small in population, the Åland Islands share some things in common with the Russian American territory – a subsistence lifestyle, a strong maritime heritage and a culture of handicrafts. This presentation discusses those elements, brilliantly portrayed in a Conference exhibit from the Åland Islands Emigrant Institute, and offers the hosting of a follow-up conference during the 90th Anniversary of autonomy in 1922. Paper
Living Witnesses of Russian America
Alexandra A Maloney, Adjunct Professor, UAA and Mat-Su College
This paper observes Russian cultural influence in Alaska through the prism of Russian loanwords in Native Alaskan languages. Those words are living witnesses of penetration of Russian culture. Woven into each word is a change in culture, religion, technology and the diet of Alaskan Natives. The ethno-linguistic approach is applied to observe these changes. The Russian loanwords in Aleut, Yup’ik, Dena’ina Athabaskan and Tlingit are discussed. Paper
The Assessment of Data Potential for Select Colonial Russian Sites in Sitka: Results of Cooperative American – Russian Investigations in Conjunction with the 2010 International Conference on Russian America.
J. David McMahan, State Archeologist, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, State of Alaska
In conjunction with the Conference, a cooperative American-Russian team will conduct exploratory archaeological investigations at three sites in the Sitka area with goals of characterizing deposits and determining information potential. The project promotes cultural exchange and cooperative working relationships between Russian and American scientists from various agencies. The project is a cooperative effort between the Alaska Office of History and Archaeology, Sitka National Historical Park, Tongass National Forest, and the International Association of Specialists on Russian America. With Timothy L. Dilliplane, Artur V. Kharinsky, Sue Thorsen, Jay Kinsman, Vladimir V. Tikhonov, and Yury P. Lykhin. Paper
Fiction as History: What Can We Learn?
Kate Lidfors Miller, Former Superintendent, Voyageurs National Park, Historian and Writer
Research into the material culture and social history of Russian America can reach a popular audience through historical fiction. This fascinating and complex expression of colonialism holds truths about human interdependence, exploitation of persons and the environment, survival, memory, and reconciliation that are critical to today’s world. The draft of a new novel (working title: Sitkha”) could be described in part by the conference focus: “explor(ing) the lifestyles and relationships among the inhabitants of Russian America during the colonial period.” To what extent is the novelist responsible to facts? To what extent can fiction tell truths more powerful than fact? A few examples from the novel-in-progress will illustrate the challenge of these questions and the guiding principles of the writer. Paper
Contemporary Russian Research-Education Centers'
Perspectives and Studies of Russian America
Dr. Alexander Iu. Petrov
Russian Academy of Sciences
This paper examines the various institutions in Russian that focus on Russian American history, and the unique perspective each brings to this field of research. One such institution is the Vologda State Pedagogical University, which hosts a specialized course of study on Russian America and has correspondent linkages to universities, libraries and museums in Russia and in North and South America. Another institution with a focus on Russian America is the Kemerovo State University, where Dr. Alexei Ermolaev and others are looking closely at the Russian American Company. Others focus their research on the Orthodox Church in Russian America, colonial law, exploration and other topics. The Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World History has established a Center for North American Studies/ Group on the History of Russian America. Dr. Petrov in this paper calls for more research in the field and for continuing exchanges between Russian American centers in Russia and North America. Paper
Education and Science in New Archangelsk, 1841-1867
Dr. Alexander Iu. Petrov
Russian Academy of Sciences
This brief paper outlines subject matter related to education and science in Russian America that are drawn from the soon-to-be-published fifth and final volume of the Collections of Documents (Russian American Company and Research on the Pacific North, 1815 – 1867, a compilation based largely on the so-called “Colonial Archives” (The National Archives and Records Service). It is clear from these documents (and other archival material that can be found in such repositories as the Russian State Archive of the Navy, the Russian State Historical Archive and the U.S. Library of Congress) that Russian North America had a structured and advanced education system for creoles, especially with training in navigation, as well as an ongoing series of scientific endeavors undertaken or assisted by the Russian American Company. These included magnetic and meteorological observations, collecting of flora and fauna samples, zoological and botanical observations and reports, observations on ocean current and sea life, and highly accurate observations on the history, ethnography, anthropology and geology of the Interior of Alaska, performed by a number of expeditions (Zagoskin, Zarembo and others). It is clear that these volumes offer dozens of subjects to explore in these aspects of learning in Russian America. Paper
If These Walls Could Talk: The Survival of Building 43
Rebecca Poulson, Sitka Maritime Heritage Society
In 1998, demolition of the Sitka American Legion Post 13 revealed three walls of a Russian house, hidden within the walls of the modern building around it. This house was labeled Building 43 on the 1867 transfer map. Complex dovetails, expert log fitting, and a later frame-built infill on one wall show a high level of craftsmanship. This presentation will show Building 43 as it was revealed during demolition, what is known of its history, and the sections of wall that are still in existence today, as well as some artifacts recovered from the refuse dump underneath.
A Review of the 1855 Attack on Andreevskaia Odinochka
Ken Pratt, Bureau of Indian Affairs
The 1855 attack on Andreevskaia Odinochka on the lower Yukon River may be the least well-documented incident of Native-Russian hostilities in western Alaska. Published accounts of the attack itself are generally consistent, but descriptions of its aftermath are not. Russian accounts suggest no reprisals were taken against the Natives, and American accounts claim the opposite. Native oral history accounts are presented to (for the first time) document indigenous perspectives of the incident. Native oral history also reveals further inconsistencies between accounts of this conflict; previously unknown details about the actions of involved parties immediately following the attack; and an unusual Native place name created as a direct consequence of the event.
The Creoles of Ostrov Leisnoi: A History of Survival, Adaptation and Success
Gordon L. Pullar, Dept of Native Studies, University of Alaska-Fairbanks/WoodyIsland Tribe
Much has been written about the difficulties and challenges faced by the Alutiiq people of Kodiak Island after Russian fur traders led by Grigorii Shelhikov took control of the island in 1784. Much less has been mentioned of the endurance and adaptability of the Alutiiq survivors of this tragic period and how many adjusted to new ways of living. As a part of this process the Creoles, a new social class defined by a Russian America Company Charter, emerged. This paper will focus on the history of the Creole ancestors of the author, some of whom moved between Kodiak, Wood Island (Ostrov Leisnoi), Sitka, and other places in Russian America, taking on new roles and identities while establishing a legacy that remains today. Paper
From One Imperial Periphery to Another: The Experiences of a Governor’s Wife in Russian Alaska
Susanna Rabow-Edling, Research fellow,
Uppsala center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Uppsala University, Sweden
This paper is part of a larger study of three Lutheran women from Finland and the Baltics and their different experiences of being the governor’s wife in Russian Alaska. In the paper, I portray one of these women: Anna Furuhjelm, who spent five years of her life in Sitka and gave birth to three children. She wrote letters and a diary about her experiences. They are filled with her thoughts about her new life, both as a married woman and as the governor’s wife as well as the expectations she felt with regards to both these roles. Paper
The Russian American Museum & Archives in Sitka During the 1867 Transfer
Bob Sam, Native Scholar
The Fast Collection located at the Peabody Museum is originally from the Russian American Museum in Sitka, Alaska. Russian Scholar Vosnesenski traveled from South America to Alaska collecting the finest Ethnology for the museum in Russia with a duplicate on Castle hill. Russian Scholars did not intended for this collection to be taken from Sitka. They were intended as a gift to the new American Administration during the transfer of Russian America. Lieutenant Fast stole the collection as Castle Hill was used as an officer’s quarters. This provided easy access for Fast to take the collection - along with stolen grave goods also taken near Sitka - for shipment to New York and later sale to the Peabody Museum.
Creole Communities in Colonial Russia: Case Studies from Northeastern Siberia
Peter Schweitzer, University of Alaska Fairbanks
The paper presents the results of a multi-year anthropological study of three “Old-Settler” communities in northeastern Siberia. Each was founded by Russian settlers in the course of the 17th century and could not rely on provisions and assistance from the distant centers of political power. Social and cultural mixture led eventually to the emergence of new group identities, distinguished from Russians and from Native groups. Issues of “identity politics” are cornerstones of the paper. The case studies will be put within a larger comparative framework, which will address the specifics of Russia’s colonial history. Thus, the question arises as to which policies and practices enabled the emergence of “hybrid” groups situated between colonizers and colonized. Paper
The Role of Irkutsk Merchants in the Trade Hunting of the Pacific Ocean, Alaska
Vadim Shakherov
Fort Ross Club, Irkutsk
From the middle of the XVIII century Irkutsk became the main base of trade hunting of the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Alaska. Of greatest significance was the influence of Irkutsk merchants on G. I. Shelekhov and with his death there were sharp collisions including armed conflict between the trade companies. A commercial company organized in Irkutsk became the legal successor of G.I. Shelikhov, the Russian-American Company (RAC). Paper
Kurilorussia – Settlements of the Russia-American Company on the Kuril Islands, 1796 – 1877
V.О. Shubin, The Sakhalin Regional Museum
This paper will examine how the Russian commercial enterprises in the Kuril Islands offer a parallel example to the fur hunting operations in Alaska. The Kuril experience was carried out in three stages. Exploration and the first settlement with some fur hunting, the arrival of large commercial fur companies, and the dominance of the Russian American Company. The enterprises relied on the labor of Russian manufacturers, Aleutians, Kodiaks and Ainu under the free-lance conditions. When the Russians departed, the others continued on for some time. Paper
Aleutian Dwellings on the Kurils – a Historical Resource
Marina Shubina, Sakhalin Regional Museum
Aleutian and Kodiak people who settled in the Kurils while hunting sea otters for the Russian American Company left behind temporary and permanent dwellings that give many clues to their patterns of living and working in this strange land. For example, there was little in the way of native material goods. Virtually everything was brought in from other Russian centers of trade. The houses were uniform in their manner of heat, type of exits and use of wooden framework. Wooden floors were scrounged from a shipwreck. This presentation will illustrate how the dwelling, its dimensions, location, orientation and construction peculiarities reflect characters of life, activities and the stage of their social development. Paper
Creating the Narrative
Jody Smothers-Marcello, Sitka High School, University of Alaska-Southeast
In Creating the Narrative, students construct the history of Russian America using primary documents from the U.S. Library of Congress’ Meeting of Frontiers website, a bilingual, digital library. Students investigate the meshing of territorial and homeland paradigms in Alaska and how the Russian explorations led to an incursion into the places home to Alaska Natives since time immemorial. This presentation will focus on the Meeting of Frontiers website is a source in the classroom and how technology is integral to motivating digital natives—the students of today—to examine history. Most importantly, the presentation will discuss how the study of digital maps can lead to powerful storytelling among students, no matter their learning level or institutional level.
Demidovs in the history of Russian America
Evgenie Stavtsev, Institute of Ethnography and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences
The history of Russian America is connected with activity of outstanding people of Russia the time, among them the well-known owners of the Ural factories, the Demidovs. Grigory Demidov was assigned to the Second Kamchatka expedition (Bering and Chirikov), and had a close friendship with the naturalist George Steller, who accompanied Bering. In 1746, recalled from Kamchatka, Steller died. Demidov fortunately preserved his herbariums collected on North American continent, which he delivered to the Petersburg Academy of sciences. Grigory’s younger brother Nikita became acquainted with Grigory Shelihov and supported his work, supplying Shelihov company ships with anchors and guns.
The Russian Bishop’s House: a Window of Opportunity
Sue Thorsen, Museum Curator, Sitka National Historical Park
In 1972 the National Park Service was authorized by Congress to purchase and restore the “Russian Bishop’s House”, one of four remaining Russian-built structures in the western hemisphere. Occupied by the Russian Orthodox Church from its completion in 1843 to 1969, the house and its original contents provide us a tangible glimpse into the daily lives of its Russian American occupants. This presentation provides a look at the sixteen-year restoration of the house, the museum collections that resulted, and some of the opportunities for further research that these collections present.
Perestroika, Research and the Physical Evidence of Russian America
Vladimir Tikhonov, Taltsi Museum of Archeology and Ethnography
The opening of Russia to the west in the late 1980s made possible joint exchanges of information and visits that allowed for an expanding knowledge of Russian America. Irkutsk was the key site in Siberia from which most of the Russian exploration and fur-hunting directed at North America began. Today the city has numerous sites which connect backward in time to these activities. The opening of Russia has allowed researchers to visit these sites, including residences, churches and offices of the Russian American Company. Paper
The Archeology of Gardening in Russian America: Evidence from the Aleut Region
Douglas W. Veltre, University of Alaska Anchorage
By the end of the 18th century published historical literature begins to note that gardening was fairly common in Russian America. The details of such efforts in southwestern Alaska remain unclear. In 1974, extensive early 19th century garden remains were discovered at the Russian-American Company administrative center of Korovinski on Atka Island. Similar garden remains of the same general age were found at additional locales, including Unalaska and the Pribilof Islands. Archaeological, documentary, and oral history data show that gardening, especially for potatoes, was likely an important subsistence resource, both for the Russian colonial population as well as for Aleuts, whose overall subsistence economy underwent profound changes following contact. Paper
Sitka - St. Petersburg Voyages and the Ethnic Polices of the Russian-American Company
Ilya Vinkovetsky, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia
Round-the-world voyages by Russian ships played an important role in the political and social development of Sitka. This presentation will seek to demonstrate how these voyages fundamentally changed Russia’s imperial strategy in the North Pacific and altered Russian perceptions of and actions toward the Tlingit and other Alaska Natives. One of the significant byproducts was the consolidation of the Creole group as a defined social category – and later as a separate social estate in its own right. It is no accident that the Creole category was introduced in Russian America precisely at the same time as the first circumnavigation voyage made its way to Kodiak and Sitka. Paper
War and Peace: the Battle of 1804 and the Kiks.ádi Peace Making of 2004
Aanyannux, Ray Wilson, Headman of the Sitka Kiks.ádi clan
In 1804, the Kiks.ádi clan of Tlingit Indians fought a legendary battle against invading Russian forces at the mouth of Indian River in what is now Sitka National Historical Park. Among the Kiks.ádi, memory of this battle became synonymous with grief and loss. Yet over time, the battle story has come to illustrate the enduring strength of the Kiks.ádi people. In 2004, the Kiks.ádi chose to mark the battle’s bicentennial by putting away grief and making peace. This presentation tells the story of those events, and what they mean to the Kiks.ádi clan of Sitka, traditional owners of Indian River.
A Lasting Influence: The Russian Orthodox Church in a 20th Century Disaster
Nancy Yaw Davis, Ph.D., Anthropologist and Author
The Russian Orthodox Church was established in Alaska in 1794 with the arrival of the first eight priests. By the time of transfer to the United States in 1867, Orthodoxy claimed 25,000 converts and had built 96 chapels and churches. The Church has retained strength in many Native Alaskan villages in at least four dimensions beyond the religious one: in language, economics, social activities and kinship. The role of the church in the social, economic, and political issues before, during and after the Great Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami of March 27, 1964 - including the resettlement period - demonstrates the continuity of Russian influence initiated in the 18th century.
Timofei Tarakanov: Revealing the Documents of the State Archive of Kursk Region.
Alexander Vasil'evich Zorin, Kursk State Regional Museum of Archaeology
Documents of the State Archive of the Kursk Region contain extensive information about lives and activities of the people of Kursk who took an active part in exploring of Russian America. Among them are Polevoi, Druzhinin, Logachyev, Ovsyannikov, Golikov, Mukhin, Rylsk merchants the Shelikhovs, as well as the serfs - P. Ivanov (Zaysan), M.B. Nemov, T.N. Tarakanov. The material allows for the exploration of the dates of the lives of the first settlers, defining their households, and revealing earlier episodes of their biographies. This paper will focus on one of these people, revealing the important details of the biography of Timofei Tarakanov — a Pioneer of the Alaska, Oregon and Hawaii. Paper
The Unknown Vitus Bering
Dr. Victor Zviagin, Forensic physician, Moscow Russian Center of Forensic Medical Expertise
A 1991 joint Danish-Russian expedition to the Commodore Islands uncovered the remains of explorer Vitus Bering (1681-1741). Through forensic science and medical anthropological research conducted at the RCSME, Bering for the first time could be accurately described: general physical traits (age, height, weight, anthropological type) as well as aspects of his health which influenced his character. He probably had chicken pox as a boy, suffered from severe headaches, and required constant medical attention. He probably did not die of scurvy, but of “progressive cardiovascular deficiency.” And after examination of skull structure and reference to several generations of Berings, his likeness was reconstructed. Bering has at last gained his true face. Paper