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Letters from the governor's wife : a view of Russian Alaska 1859-1862 / edited by Annie Constance Christensen ; with an introduction and an epilogue by Annie Constance Christensen and Peter Ulf Møller.

Van Pelt Library F907 .L48 2005
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Format:
Book
Contributor:
Christensen, Annie.
Møller, Peter Ulf.
Series:
Beringiana ; v. 3.
Beringiana ; v. 3
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Furuhjelm, Anna, 1836-1894--Correspondence.
Furuhjelm, Anna.
Furuhjelm, Johan Hampus, 1821-1909.
Furuhjelm, Johan Hampus.
Furuhjelm, Anna, 1836-1894.
Alaska--History--To 1867.
Alaska.
History.
Genre:
Correspondence.
Personal correspondence.
Physical Description:
275 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm.
Place of Publication:
Århus : Aarhus University Press, [2005]
Summary:
"The wind is howling and I feel cold and sleepy, still I must finish this before I go to bed". Anna Furuhjelm's letters to her Scottish mother Ann von Schoultz form a diary of her first years in Alaska as the Russian Governor's wife. A few hours after their wedding on February 2, 1859 in Helsinki, Finland, she departs for Alaska on a sledge with her husband Hampus Furuhjelm and writes the first letter to her mother on the evening of that very same day. When news of her mother's death reaches Alaska on October 17, 1862, her last letter was set aside, unfinished.
Sitting by her writing case in Government House in Sitka, Anna shared her thoughts and impressions of the New World - or, more precisely, of her new world that had two unknown continents to be explored: married life and Russian America. She had only known her husband for five weeks before the wedding. Even her cosmopolitan background could not possibly have prepared her for the uniqueness of the Russian overseas colonies on the very edge of the American wilderness.
Anna Furuhjelm's letters make up a lively and moving account of everyday life in Alaska as seen from Government House just a few years before Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1867. An introduction provides the biographical and historical background.
Contents:
An arranged marriage 9
Russians in the New World 12
The penultimate governor 17
Anna Furuhjelm's Letters 23
No 1 Henriksdal February 2nd 1859 23
No 2 Fredrichshamn February 4th 1859 26
No 3 St. Petersburg February 6th 1859 27
No 4 St. Petersburg February 9th 1859 30
No 5 St. Petersburg February 11th 1859 31
No 6 St. Petersburg February 13th 1859 32
No 7 St. Petersburg February 16th 1859 34
No 8 St. Petersburg February 19th 1859 34
No 9 St. Petersburg February 21st 1859 37
No 10 St. Petersburg February 23rd 1859 38
No 11 St. Petersburg February 25th 1859 39
No 12 Dunaburg February 27th 1859 40
No 13 Warsaw March 4th 1859 41
No 14 Dresden March 7th 1859 42
No 15 Dresden March 13th 1859 45
No 16 London March 19th 1859 46
No 17 Cheltenham March 21st 1859 48
No 18 London March 27th 1859 50
No 19 Woodside April 1st 1859 53
No 20 On board "Magdalena" Atlantic April 13th 1859 55
No 21 On board HM Ship "Trent" April 25th 1859 61
No 22 Panama April 29th 1859 64
No 23 San Francisco May 18th 1859 69
No 24 San Francisco May 29th 1859 74
No 26 Sitka July 3rd 1859 79
No 25 Sitka 5th 1859 89
No 27 Sitka August 6th 1859 92
No 28 Sitka September 21st 1859 96
No 29 Sitka October 20th 1859 101
No 30 Sitka December 4th 1859 110
No 31 Sitka February 2nd 1860 117
No 33 Sitka April 6th 1860 125
No 34 Sitka April 26th 1860 129
No 35 Sitka May 5th 1860 133
No 36 Kodiak June 20th 1860 141
No 37 Kodiak July 24th 1860 154
No 38 Sitka September 18th 1860 162
No 39 Sitka October 16th 1860 165
No 40 Sitka December 7th 1860 176
No 41 Sitka New Year's day 1861 188
No 42 Sitka May 3rd 1861 206
No 43 Sitka May 22nd 1861 210
No 44 Sitka May 26 1861 212
No 45 Sitka July 7th 1861 212
No 46 Sitka September 25th 1861 217
No 47 Sitka December 29th 1861 225
No 48 San Francisco February 2nd 1862 232
No 49 Sitka March 26th 1862 235
No 50 Sitka April 28th 1862 243
No 52 Sitka September 21st 1862 247.
Notes:
Letters.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 258-261).
ISBN:
8779341594
OCLC:
62554264

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