Scope and Content Note
The records of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of America, Diocese of Alaska form a highly varied and extensive collection of more than 87,000 items that spans two hundred years, from the 1730s to the 1930s. Siberian documents date from as early as 1733, during the reign of Empress Anna Ivanovna, and 1758, during that of Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. Vast geographical areas are also accounted for, since the records trace the Church's expansion from Siberia throughout the widespread settlements of Alaska and across the United States and Canada. The bulk of the collection, however, relates to the history of the Russian Orthodox Church (hereafter referred to as the Church) in Alaska.
Although most of the reports and papers in the collection originated in ecclesiastical offices, they also reflect much of the secular life of the communities in which parishes were established. This is due in part to the fact that the priests functioned not only as agents of their Church, but of the Russian government as well. From the Synod of 1721, opened by Peter the Great, until the revolution of 1917, the Church in Russia was an integral part of the imperial bureaucracy. Thus, in areas where there were insufficient civil servants, the clergy assumed certain secular functions that required them to work closely with local inhabitants. They kept records of vital statistics, took the census, and performed a variety of less well defined duties. Even in the most remote areas, clergymen were informed of the latest government regulations through decrees or ukases.
Diocesan control over Alaskan parishes, and later over those in the United States and Canada, shifted from place to place. Such authority first emanated from Siberia, later was centered in Sitka and San Francisco, and in the twentieth century was finally moved to New York. The bishop having jurisdiction over Alaska received instructions from the Holy Synod (and from the Russian government until 1867). He, in turn, either directly or through another prelate of the diocese, supervised the parishes under him. Individual priests were assigned to specific parishes (and prior to 1867 to trading posts) where they assumed responsibility for the day-to-day activities and functions of their congregations. Under the authority of priests were varying numbers of laymen, often natives, depending upon the size of the parish.
In the period before the sale of Alaska to the United States, the Church directed its principal efforts toward the conversion of the native populations. It also assisted the Russian-American Company, which had a monopoly to trade in Alaska, in its programs for educating and Russianizing the natives. With the arrival of Americans in Alaska in the 1870s and 1880s, various Protestant denominations began working among the Alaskan peoples. Spurred by this challenge to its dominance, the Russian Church showed renewed activity in both the religious and secular realms. Later in the nineteenth century the Church also responded to the spiritual and other needs of the large emigrant groups coming to North America from Russia and neighboring Orthodox countries. Many of these Slav, Greek, and Syrian arrivals settled in eastern and midwestern industrial and mining areas. Others moved on to the West Coast, particularly to the San Francisco area, while gold mining lured others to Juneau, Alaska, and beyond.
There is no overall pattern to the Church's records. This is due in part to the experimental nature of the Church in the colonial period in Russian America, to the disorganization of missionary endeavors after the purchase of Alaska in 1867, and to the expansion of the Church into the United States and Canada. The peregrinations of the records and the many vicissitudes affecting them also contributed to the disparate and uneven character of the collection. Many documents were damaged, some have obviously been lost or destroyed, and others found their way into collections elsewhere. Some Alaskan parishes are represented by significantly fewer documents than others and have incomplete or missing series in certain categories. Parishes in Canada and the United States (outside Alaska), with the exception of San Francisco, are particularly under represented. On the other hand, there is a considerable amount of duplication, for in many instances the priests were required to prepare several copies of records and reports. Orders and instructions received in the parishes were also frequently copied further. Most of these duplicate documents have been placed in a special series, Supplemental Sets .
The lack of consistency in the type, quality, frequency, and composition of the documentation constituting the Church's records is inevitably reflected in the arrangement of the collection. Records that appear with regularity in the 1850s either cease to appear after the sale of Alaska or are altered to such a degree that they can no longer be classified in the earlier manner. Methods of keeping records, and the formats under which they were kept, were changed from one administrative period to another, affecting all levels of control, from the Over-Procurator's office and the Synod in Russia, down to the parishes in Alaska and elsewhere.
Dates based on the Julian calendar, which is approximately two weeks behind the Gregorian, are encountered throughout the collection. Russia used the Julian calendar until 1917 and the Russian Orthodox Church still observes its religious holidays in accordance with it. In the early period, the Church was consistent in using only one date on documents– from the Julian calendar. After the sale of Alaska, dates from both calendars appear on most documents, but their order is not regular. At times the Julian date appears at the top and the Gregorian beneath; at other times the order is reversed. Because a predominant number of the documents in the collection give priority to Julian dating, all documents are filed by that system.