Old Believers in North America

About This Bibliography

This bibliography aspires to list and describe every dissertation, thesis, book, article, film, recording, museum, archive, website and newspaper which deals with Russian Old Believer life in North America. At publication (November 2007) about 150 individual items are listed, not counting 30-odd museums, archives and newspapers. Many items are scholarly -- dissertations, scholarly books, journal articles. Many items are not scholarly -- local histories, memoirs, magazine articles, and films. All have been included because they (1) add a substantial piece to the record and (2) are publicly available.

Some items have been intentionally left out. You will find no directory of Old Believer churches or prayer halls here, as many congregations prefer to keep such information under their own control. I have listed only such active Old Believer institutions (prayer halls, churches, monasteries) as already maintain a public presence in print or on the web. Those looking for such information are welcome to contact me, and I will do what I can to make legitimate connections.

In order to make this collection useful to a wide range of researchers ( middle-school students, school teachers, college students and established scholars) I have sorted the materials in various ways. The basic presentation is arranged by format, but indices allow easy searching by author, discipline/subject, and sub-group. Most items are repeatedly cross-listed. Young researchers will find a section designed especially for them.

This is an on-going project. Additions, corrections and comments are very welcome! You may email the bibliographer, Margaret McKibben, by inserting mmck before @sccd.ctc.edu in the email address line.

Formats

Articles in reference works are typically concise essays in specialized encyclopedias (encyclopedias of music, of ethnic groups, etc.). Such encyclopedias are widely available in public as well as academic libraries. Scholarly monographs are dissertations, theses, senior projects, and the like, along with printed books aimed at a scholarly audience. While copies of dissertations can often be purchased through UMI, obtaining the lower level scholarly works typically requires an inter-library loan request to the university which hosted the author. Shorter scholarly works include journal articles, book chapters, abstracts, and conference papers.

Popular books are published books accessible to a general audience. Some are cross-listed under scholarly monographs. Popular articles have appeared in magazines intended for the general public. The reports section encompasses such things as meeting minutes, government documents and a few field reports housed at the Randall V. Mills Archives of Northwest Folklore. Film & audio is just that. The list of museums & archives describes relevant museum, archive and library special collections, and presents some advice on search strategies. Links listed under websites were all functional as of November 2007.

Listing all the newspaper articles which discuss Old Believers in North America is beyond the scope of this bibliography. Instead, under newspapers of interest I have listed local and national newspapers which have historically covered Old Believer communities, along with information about availability and indexing. All of the currently publishing newspapers have active web sites -- however, few have online indexing or archives.

Indices

The author index allows scholars to easily review the accuracy of their own listings (and to count coup!).

The discipline/subject index lists scholarly works according to the academic discipline of the author. It further lists all works according to the major subject areas covered. Thus, a linguist writing about terminology used for clothing will find her work listed under both "linguistics" and "textiles and costume".

The group index lists all materials according to the Old Believer population group they describe. In identifying "groups" I have relied on history rather than current confessional or settlement patterns. Thus, the "Pennsylvania", "Alberta" and "Oregon" groups are comprised, respectively, of the Pomortsy who settled in Pennsylvania in the 1890s, the Popovtsy who settled in Alberta in the 1920s, and the (mostly) Chasovennye who arrived in Oregon in the 1960s, plus their respective descendants, regardless of current religious affiliation or place of residence.

Acknowledgements

Leonid Leonidovich Kasatkin and Rozaliia Frantsevna Kasatkina generously provided a lengthy list of sources published in Russia. Yoshikazu Nakamura was an invaluable guide to the Japanese language liturature. Tatiana Butterworth designed the logo. I gratefully acknowledge the cheerful assistance of all three, and that of innumerable interlibrary loan librarians.

About the Bibliographer

I hold a BA in Russian Civilization from the University of Chicago and an MLS from the University of Washington. Between 1975 and 1987 I spent a total of nine years working with the Oregon Old Believers as a translator in various government offices. I currently hold the position of faculty librarian at North Seattle Community College. I count my time with the Old Believers as the most illuminating years of my life.

Margaret McKibben