A topic that has long intrigued me. Can anyone recommend some good works on the subject?
Alternatively, can anyone living in what was Russian America (from Alaska down through northern California) provide contact info on historic sites dedicated to the subject?
I’d like to know about Orthodox churches, Old Believer communities, etc., that would have archival data in particular.
Thanks in advance!
Fort Ross State Historic Park, in California, is the site of a Russian fort from the early 19th century. You can contact them at Fort Ross Conservancy, 19005 Coast Highway One, Jenner, CA
95450
James Michener’s weighty tome Alaska has a section on the Russian America period, from Vitus Bering to Seward’s Folly. It is a novel, by no means a complete history but Michener was noted for setting his works against a carefully researched historical backdrop. The period of Russian control can generally be described in one word; grim. For the Russian and Siberian settlers, and especially for the natives.
The recently published West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776 by Claudio Saunt has a chapter on Russian exploration in North America.
If you’re ever in Sitka, Alaska, the Russian capital, there are still a few buildings left from that time. The Sheldon Jackson Museum concentrates mostly on native artifacts, but has some Russian-period items too.
I am friendly with a couple people in the area, but by no means close. They are close knit and very protective.
What is the goal of your study? What data points do you need to prove your point?
The Great Land by Jeremy Atiyah is a comprehensive look at the subject although it’s a bit light on detail on the almost fifty years after Baranov dies in 1818.
And Where the Sea Breaks its Back by Corey Ford is a good book about Bering & Steller’s 1741/42 expedition there.
I’ve wanted to write something on it for a long time—maybe a history for publication in book form, maybe a doctoral thesis/dissertation, if I ever get around to working toward a doctorate.
I’ve translated some articles about it, but not enough to start writing a book-length work, and I don’t want to rely just on other people’s published work. Which is why I ask about archival sources.
I’m especially interested in what drove Russian expansion across the Bering Strait—economic (fish, furs, whales, gold) and otherwise (exploration, adventure, religious freedom, military strategy); how people found life in the new land; what was different from life in Eurasian Russia.
What traditions did people bring with them? Did they ever feel the sense of freedom that the American colonists developed once they were removed from the confines of Great Britain?
I’ve done historical reenactment, and the skills people have to develop to survive in a new land have always intrigued me.
Family histories, oral traditions are always of interest.
You might try calling or writing the museums in any of the cities in Southeast Alaska - a number of them have resources they’re happy to share, but they aren’t necessarily digital. I know that the towns of Wrangell, Ketchikan, Petersberg, Sitka and Juneau have at least some materials in their local museums (although Petersberg is more focused on Norwegian heritage).
Do you think any of the Old Believer communities would share resources with me? I do know, as was mentioned above, that they tend to be rather clannish; however, I can’t help but think they’d like their story told.