Collection of documents illustrating the spirituality of the Alaskan orthodox missionaries. Includes letters of St. Herman, writings of St. Innocent, reports from lesser known parish clergy, and diary excerpts. Introduced by an informative historical essay.

This definitive work, the crown jewel in the distinguished career of Russian America scholar Lydia T. Black, presents a comprehensive overview of the Russian presence in Alaska. Drawing on extensive archival research and employing documents only recently made available to scholars, Black shows how Russian expansion was the culmination of centuries of social and economic change. Black s work challenges the standard perspective on the Russian period in Alaska as a time of unbridled exploitation of Native inhabitants and natural resources. Without glossing over the harsher aspects of the period, Black acknowledges the complexity of relations between Russians and Native peoples. She chronicles the lives of ordinary men and women the merchants and naval officers, laborers and clergy who established Russian outposts in Alaska. These early colonists carried with them the Orthodox faith and the Russian language; their legacy endures in architecture and place names from Baranof Island to the Pribilofs. This deluxe volume features fold-out maps and color illustrations of rare paintings and sketches from Russian, American, Japanese, and European sources many have never before been published. An invaluable source for historians and anthropologists, this accessible volume brings to life a dynamic period in Russian and Alaskan history. A tribute to Black s life as a scholar and educator, "Russians in Alaska" will become a classic in the field."

As a native speaker of Russian with eighteen years of fieldwork experience among the Tlingit, Kan is uniquely qualified to relate little-known material from the archives of the Russian church in Alaska to Tlingit oral history and his own observations.

In 1794 a group of Russian orthodox missionaries landed on Kodiak Island, Alaska, with the intent of preaching to native Americans, baptizing those who would accept the Christian life and developing for them both academic and agricultural schools. Of these missionaries, Father Herman lived among the Aleut people for over 40 years, and earned the nickname Apa or Grandfather. He was often involved with local authorities concerning the rights of local natives, who were constantly violated by explorers and foreign authorities. In this volume, author Dorrie Papademetriou captures the essence of the monk and the world of Apa and the Aleut people comes alive in illustrations of northern lights, Kodiak bears, giant cabbages and angel's wings.

In connection with the 200th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska, an exhibition entitled "In The Beginning Was the Word: The Russian Church and Native Alaskan Cultures", including some of the most important and interesting documents from the large archives of the Church. This volume summarizes the results of the study of the archives, stressing their relevance for the problem of semiotic nets of communication in a multilingual and multicultural society. The translation of Biblical and Church-related documents into native languages is discussed and the social and religious aspects of communication and semiotic contact are examined.