Russian Old Believers in North America Author: Margaret McKibben,  Faculty Librarian, North Seattle Community College

Abstract: Russian Old Believes attracted some notice upon their arrival in North America over one hundred years ago, but it was not until large numbers of Old Believers settled in Oregon and Alaska in the 1960s that American and Canadian researchers started producing a significant body of work.   With the 2007 publication of an on-line bibliography of works relating to Old Believers in North America, a review of the research is now possible.  

Analysis of these publications reveals a preponderance of descriptive over analytical work.  The scholars who produced them show the clear imprint of events from the larger stage of the 20th century; displaced populations, the Cold War, the tumult of the 60s, American monolingualism, the shift towards multiculturalism in public life. And while the disciplines of cultural anthropology, education and linguistics are well represented, fields such as folklore, musicology, religious studies, book culture and history have yet to make a significant showing.

If you would like to take a look at the bibliography referenced above, you can see it at:

http://libweb.uoregon.edu/ec/oldbelievers/index.html