Reports

This file contains 29 pages, each recording a custom conversation,belief or detail of material culture as collected from various Old Believer informants and 2 non-Old Believer informants in Oregon in 1972-1973. In addition, 16 slides document the candle-rolling process and women's traditional clothing. A women's costume and 65 more slides documenting traditional crafts and a wedding could not be located at the time of the reviewer's visit (February 2006).

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The minutes describe the meeting between Tolstoy Foundation representatives and about 350 Old Believers to address problems of "moral disintegration", i.e. Old Believers accepting welfare when they had pledged to not do so, school and job absenteeism, unkempt houses, untidy dress, poor bodily cleanliness, and traffic violations. Two committees were elected to represent the Old Believer community to the American authorities, to coordinate community assistance for needy individuals, and to keep in touch with the Tolstoy Foundation office.

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The report describes the "disintegrating influence of the present-day American turmoil" on Old Believer behavior and morals, leading to, among other things, Old Believer reliance on public assistance. The report further describes meetings with city, county and state officials to urge them to refrain from "soliciting" Old Believers as welfare recipients and to provide no assistance to any Old Believer without the prior approval of the Tolstoy Foundation.

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This commendable paper, written for a 1973 undergraduate course in Anthropology and Education, examines the "Bilingual-Bicultural Education Project" undertaken by the Woodburn School District in 1970. This was an effort to provide an American education to Old Believer children while at the same time maintaining their native language and cultural norms. Boeninger does a good job of outlining the federal and local forces at work. Her evaluation of the program is mainly subjective and anecdotal, but includes the cogent observation that success in such a project requires not only dedicated teachers, but administrators dedicated to its success.

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Clymer's field work of 1969 focuses on the "Turkish" Old Believers who settled in Oregon after a 200-year sojourn in Romania and Turkey. Using the methods of cultural anthropology, she presents a fairly detailed account which covers social patterns, religion, religious organization, economic patterns, education, legal problems and areas of culture contact and change. She makes frequent references by way of contrast to the "Brazilians" (i.e. Old Believers originating in Siberia and China, who also arrived in Oregon in the 1960s after a few years settlement in South America, chiefly Brazil). The description is wide-ranging, well-organized, and marred by numerous minor errors. Still, it is a valuable picture of the Oregon Old Believers soon after their arrival in the United States.

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This 14-page interview transcript provides a rare glimpse into the life of an Old Believer woman on the fringes of the Oregon Old Believer community. Speaking as both an insider and an outsider, this 22-year old woman describes her childhood in Brazil, followed by the move to Oregon as part of the very first group of Old Believer families. She discusses her experiences with prejudice, school, community expectations, family life, and gender roles,along with describing her own rebellion and subsequent life in a series of foster homes and group homes.

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Hudanish was a close and articulate observer and advocate of the Oregon Old Believers, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, both as a private citizen and during his tenure as Director of the Department of Human Resources with the City of Woodburn. This report outlines cultural and linguistic communication gaps between Old Believers and the host society, gaps leading to problems in legal and administrative areas such as hunting and fishing laws, building inspection, complaints of discrimination, income taxes, registration of births and deaths, etc. Hudanish suggests solutions as well as listing problems. The report provides a valuable glimpse of the challenges presented to this rural Oregon town by the arrival of the Old Believers
The report is available at three locations (in 2003): Salem Public Library Vertical File, the Oregon Historical Society collection, and on-line at the Columbia Basin Ethnic History Archive.

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This is the most detailed and in-depth work to date on the textile arts of the Oregon Old Believers. The collection includes 33 color slides documenting clothing styles worn before moving to Oregon, belt patterns, weaving techniques and equipment; a 16 page description of women's costume in all three Oregon sub-groups; detailed field notes comparing clothing in Oregon with that worn in Turkey, Brazil, and China; plus sketches, graphs, samples, stories, and descriptions of belt weaving and embroidery techniques. Five videotapes and various costume pieces could not be located at the time of the reviewer's visit (February 2006).

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