Records of the Russian-American Company, 1802-1867

Notes

The library has a descriptive pamphlet on microfiche which includes an printed inventory of these records. The call number information is listed at the end of this record. See entry in the Author/Title catalog: Fisher, Raymond Henry. Records of the Russian-American Company, 1802, 1817-1867.

"The Russian-American Company was establised in 1799 by a ukaz of Tsar Paul I. By its charter the Company was granted a monopoly of trade in Russia's North American possessions for 20 years and also obtained what in effect was complete political authority. The charter was renewed, with few modifications, in 1821 and 1842. Although the Company was still in authority when the United States purchased the possessions from Russia in 1867, a third renewal of its charter was 5 years overdue. The weakened condition of the Company had helped to convince the Russian Government that the Company should be sold. During the 68 years of its existence the Company had been administered by a Board of Directors in St. Petersburg, who placed the management of the Company's affairs with the Main Office (Glavnoe Pravlenie) in St. Petersburg. The Governor General (Glavnyi Upravitel) at Novo-Arkhangelsk for New Archangel, now Sitka) controlled affairs in Russian America"--Introd.

"The convention that formalized the sale of Alaska by Russia to the United States, concluded March 30, 1867, contained the provision as follows in article II (15 Stat. 541): Any government archives, papers, and documents relative to the territory and dominion aforesaid, which may be now existing there, will be left in the possession of the agent of the United States... In accordance with this provision some of the records of the Russian-American Company were transferred to the agent of the U.S. Government at Sitka, and they were subsequently shipped to Washington. The records consist of nearly 33,000 folios, or 66,000 pages, although many folios are blank or have no writing on the versos. They are in 92 volumes and are reproduced on 77 rolls of the microfilm publication"--Introd.

"The 92 volumes of records of the Russian-American Company, in Russian and handwritten, are divided into four well-defined categories: 1. Communications from the Main Office in St. Petersburg to Governors General in America, 1802, 1817-1866. (25 volumes) In the microfilm publication the title is Correspondence of Governors General, Communications Received, but the microfilm boxes are labeled Letters Received by the Governors General. The backstrips of the volumes are titled Correspondence. The effective beginning year for this category is 1817; only 12 letters have earlier dates. One of these letters (1802) is addressed to the Governor General, and 11 are enclosures to other communications received. 2. Outgoing communications of Governors General at Novo-Arkhangelsk, copied in letterbooks and occasionally summarized, 1818-67, 49 volumes. In the microfilm publication the title is Correspondence of Governors General, Communications sent, but the microfilm boxes are labeled Letters Sent by the Governors General. The backstrips of 34 of the 49 volumes are titled Journals of Correspondence, Governors and Directors; the remaining 15 volumes have no backstrip titles.

3. Logs kept on Company ships during voyages in Alaskan and other waters, 1850-67. 16 volumes 4. Journals of exploring expeditions, 1842-44, 1860, 1864. 2 volumes. One volume contains the account of explorations under the command of Lt. Lavrentii A. Zagoskin in the Lower Yukon Basin and along the southwestern mainland of Alaska, 1842-44; the other concerns the explorations by Capt. N. Arkhimandritov on Kodiak Island, in Norton Sound, and on the Pribilof Islands in 1860 and 1864"--Introd.

"In addition to these records, but originally not a part of them, is an 88 page calandar of the documents in Communications Received, volumes 1 and 2, in which the latest items listed are dated October 6, 1821. The calandar, which is written in the English language, was prepared after the records had been transferred to the U.S. Government, but before they had been sent to The National Archives. Each entry gives the names and titles of correspondent and addressee, date of letter, and a brief abstract to the letter's content. The calandar has both the Julian and the Gregorian dates, but the communications usually have the Julian date. The calandar is in a press copybook and is probably not the original copy. It has been filmed at the beginning of roll 1 and is preceded by an inventory, which was prepared at Sitka in 1867, of all records transferred to the United States"--Introd.

Microfilm of original records in The National Archives, Washington, D.C.

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Film/Digital Notes