Scope and Content
Collection of field recordings, photographs, and manuscripts created by ethnomusicologist Margarita Mazo. Mazo's research and fieldwork focuses on two sects of Spiritual Christians that split from the Russian Orthodox Church: Molokans and Old Believers. Mazo's research explores music and religious expression for these two religious sects and the ways diasporic communities maintain and adapt traditions. The collection includes documentation of Molokan and Old Believer communities in Stavropol, Tula, and Moscow, Russia and in Poland as well as diasporic Molokan and Old Believer communities in California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania in the United States.
Mazo was also involved with planning two Smithsonian Festivals of American Folklife. In 1988, Mazo was the Program Curator for the Music from the Peoples of the Soviet Union portion of the Festival and in 1995, she was one of the curators for the Russian Roots, American Branches portion of the Festival. Planning documents, photographs, and recordings from her work with the Festivals are included in the collection. Also included are Mazo's academic research files on Molokans and Old Believers as well as article drafts, correspondence, and other administrative or academic files.