| Summary: | On verso of image: A religious process by the Russian priest and some of his congregation, Pribilof Islands, Alaska, 1907 PH Coll 334.Chicester.1 The Pribilof Islands (often called the Fur Seal Islands, Russian: Kotovi) are a group of four islands, part of Alaska, lying in the Bering Sea, about 200 miles north of Unalaska and 200 miles south of Cape Newenham, the nearest point on the North American mainland. The principal islands are St. Paul (named from St. Peter and St. Paul's Day, on which it was discovered) and St. George (probably named after Pribilof's ship). The Otter and Walrus islets are near St. Paul. The islands were first sighted in 1767 by Joan Synd, and were visited in 1786 by Gerasim Pribilof, who discovered the fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) rookeries for which they became famous. From Russia, the islands passed with Alaska to the United States in 1867. From 1870 to 1890 the United States government leased the islands to the Alaska Commercial Company. From 1890 through 1910, the North American Commercial Company held the monopoly on seal-hunting on the islands, but the industry shrank considerably owing to pelagic sealing. Under the Fur Seal Act of 1966, hunting of these seals is forbidden in the Pribilof Islands with the exception of subsistence hunting by Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos who live on the islands. [Source: http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Pribilof_Islands] Much of the artistic heritage of the Russian Orthodox Church in America rests in the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands of Alaska, the first home for the Orthodox missionaries. This heritage is in jeopardy due to the effects of relocation during World War II and a harsh maritime climate. During the war, the government removed 881 Aleuts from nine villages in the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands. These families were moved from their homes with only 12 hours notice to makeshift camps in Southeast Alaska. What sustained the survivors was their religious faith. Russian Orthodoxy has been a prominent marker of Aleut identity. Unhappily, when the Aleuts returned home in 1944 and 1945, they found desolation. Their homes were badly damaged and their churches vandalized and destroyed altogether. Their icons and church furnishings had been seriously damaged while they were away. In 1988, the United States Congress voted to make restitution to the Aleuts for this damage. The amount appropriated however, has not been enough to repair the icons as well as the churches. [Source: http://www.alaska.net/~apirt/welcome.htm]
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