Sergei Ionovich Kostromitinov (1854-1915), or "Colonel George Kostrometinoff": From a Creole Teenager to the Number-One Russian-American Citizen of Sitka
Sergei Kostromitinov was born in 1854 to a Russian employee of the Russian-American Company and a Creole woman. Fluent in Russian and English and conversant in several native languages, he became an interpreter for Alaska's American authorities and an indispensable cultural broker among the reg...
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fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:ddeh:60/3/385 2023-05-15T18:48:57+02:00 Sergei Ionovich Kostromitinov (1854-1915), or "Colonel George Kostrometinoff": From a Creole Teenager to the Number-One Russian-American Citizen of Sitka Kan, Sergei 2013-07-01 00:00:00.0 text/html http://ethnohistory.dukejournals.org/cgi/content/short/60/3/385 https://doi.org/10.1215/00141801-2140704 en eng Duke University Press http://ethnohistory.dukejournals.org/cgi/content/short/60/3/385 http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00141801-2140704 Copyright (C) 2013, American Society for Ethnohistory Creating Creoles and Being Creole in Siberia Russian America and Alaska TEXT 2013 fthighwire https://doi.org/10.1215/00141801-2140704 2015-02-28T23:48:58Z Sergei Kostromitinov was born in 1854 to a Russian employee of the Russian-American Company and a Creole woman. Fluent in Russian and English and conversant in several native languages, he became an interpreter for Alaska's American authorities and an indispensable cultural broker among the region's Euro-American, Russian-Creole, and native communities. Thanks to that role as well as his political skills and successful commercial activities, Kostrometinov became the leading Russian-American citizen of Sitka—Alaska's first capital—serving as the warden of its Orthodox cathedral as well as the president of the chamber of commerce, a lieutenant colonel in the territorial militia, the secretary of the local historical society, and so forth. This essay explores the strategies he used to maintain his privileged position within the local Euro-American elite without abandoning his Russian patriotism and commitment to Russian Orthodox Christianity. It also shows that the price of Kostrometinov's success was an almost total denial of his Creole ancestry and a certain estrangement from Sitka's Creole community. Text Alaska Siberia HighWire Press (Stanford University) Warden ENVELOPE(-146.617,-146.617,-86.000,-86.000) Ethnohistory 60 3 385 402 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
HighWire Press (Stanford University) |
op_collection_id |
fthighwire |
language |
English |
topic |
Creating Creoles and Being Creole in Siberia Russian America and Alaska |
spellingShingle |
Creating Creoles and Being Creole in Siberia Russian America and Alaska Kan, Sergei Sergei Ionovich Kostromitinov (1854-1915), or "Colonel George Kostrometinoff": From a Creole Teenager to the Number-One Russian-American Citizen of Sitka |
topic_facet |
Creating Creoles and Being Creole in Siberia Russian America and Alaska |
description |
Sergei Kostromitinov was born in 1854 to a Russian employee of the Russian-American Company and a Creole woman. Fluent in Russian and English and conversant in several native languages, he became an interpreter for Alaska's American authorities and an indispensable cultural broker among the region's Euro-American, Russian-Creole, and native communities. Thanks to that role as well as his political skills and successful commercial activities, Kostrometinov became the leading Russian-American citizen of Sitka—Alaska's first capital—serving as the warden of its Orthodox cathedral as well as the president of the chamber of commerce, a lieutenant colonel in the territorial militia, the secretary of the local historical society, and so forth. This essay explores the strategies he used to maintain his privileged position within the local Euro-American elite without abandoning his Russian patriotism and commitment to Russian Orthodox Christianity. It also shows that the price of Kostrometinov's success was an almost total denial of his Creole ancestry and a certain estrangement from Sitka's Creole community. |
format |
Text |
author |
Kan, Sergei |
author_facet |
Kan, Sergei |
author_sort |
Kan, Sergei |
title |
Sergei Ionovich Kostromitinov (1854-1915), or "Colonel George Kostrometinoff": From a Creole Teenager to the Number-One Russian-American Citizen of Sitka |
title_short |
Sergei Ionovich Kostromitinov (1854-1915), or "Colonel George Kostrometinoff": From a Creole Teenager to the Number-One Russian-American Citizen of Sitka |
title_full |
Sergei Ionovich Kostromitinov (1854-1915), or "Colonel George Kostrometinoff": From a Creole Teenager to the Number-One Russian-American Citizen of Sitka |
title_fullStr |
Sergei Ionovich Kostromitinov (1854-1915), or "Colonel George Kostrometinoff": From a Creole Teenager to the Number-One Russian-American Citizen of Sitka |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sergei Ionovich Kostromitinov (1854-1915), or "Colonel George Kostrometinoff": From a Creole Teenager to the Number-One Russian-American Citizen of Sitka |
title_sort |
sergei ionovich kostromitinov (1854-1915), or "colonel george kostrometinoff": from a creole teenager to the number-one russian-american citizen of sitka |
publisher |
Duke University Press |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://ethnohistory.dukejournals.org/cgi/content/short/60/3/385 https://doi.org/10.1215/00141801-2140704 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-146.617,-146.617,-86.000,-86.000) |
geographic |
Warden |
geographic_facet |
Warden |
genre |
Alaska Siberia |
genre_facet |
Alaska Siberia |
op_relation |
http://ethnohistory.dukejournals.org/cgi/content/short/60/3/385 http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00141801-2140704 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 2013, American Society for Ethnohistory |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1215/00141801-2140704 |
container_title |
Ethnohistory |
container_volume |
60 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
385 |
op_container_end_page |
402 |
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1766242344142635008 |