The Cordova daily times., 1922-12-16


 ing of the two orphanages for boys at Sitka and Unalaska in 1911, and of the girls boarding school at Ko- diak in 1916.
 The other agency which was re- sponsible for the conduct of educa- ton in Russian America was the Russian-American Company, which was organized under imperial char ter in 1799 and became Russia's agent for the government of the province By the terms of it's char ter, the company was required to establish schools in connection with it's trading posts. Such schools were usnally under the supervision of the local trader or agent and were open to children of both sexes.
 The educational activities of both the Church and the Company were so closely blended, as to be difficult of separate treatment, especially in view of the limited information avail able Neither ever made any real attempt to bring education to the masses of the people except in iso- lated cases. The Church schools were maintained principally for the children of the clergy and as means of preparing few Creoles (children with native mothers and Russian fathers) for the priesthood or as lay readers for the missions where no regular priest was sta tioned.
 The Russian-American Company, while apparently complying fully with the requirements of it's char ter, arranged all educational facili- ties offered to the natives of Alaska with the sole object of benefitting itself rather than that of educating the people. Graduates from some of the more advanced courses were re quired to remain in the service of the company for a period of fifteen years after completing the course of instruction, In view of. sthe vast expanse of Siberian waste and the stretch of tempestuous sea which separated the company from the home base of supplies, it was not remarkable that an effort was made to serve it's own interests and pro- vide employees who were not only fa- miliar with the country, but also bound to it by ties of home and family.
 Many competent clerks, copyists, bookkeepers, shipbuilders and navi- gators were trained in these com pany schools, the most notable of which was located at Sitka and was known as the Colonial Academy. Creole girls were also trained to be housekeepers and frequently mar ried the minor employees. Which bound them more closely, not only to the country, but to the company.
 Some years previous to the trans fer of what is now Alaska to the United States, the Russian-American Company discontinued it's schools, as a result of increasing expenses and diminishing income.
 It is not to be expected that the progress of education in Russian America would be at all rapid The early traders and colonists, and for that matter. many of the representa- tives of the, Graeco- Russian church, were in the country not for the pur- pose, of fsgiving' to- it, but ttlat they might take from it. For at least half a century after the Russian occupa- ton, educational matters were but little more advanced than in the days of Shelikof and Juvenal..
 In 1905, Nikolai, Rezanof established a school at Saint Paul Island. girls school was also opened at this set tlement Both, however, were short lived. A few years later Alexander Baranof opened school at Sitka, but very indifferent work was accom- plished until in 1888, when Etholin took charge of it and somewhat i'm proved it's. condition. Of those who left this school in 1887, Captain Golovnin records that four,- became sailors, four clerks, five mechanics, and three aprentices on board ship. A very successful school was also es- tablished at Unalaska in 1925 by Veniaminoff. In 1860, this school en- rolled 93 pupils of both sexes
 Sitka, however, was the center of education in what is now Alaska dur ing the period of Russian occupation. For some time previous to the transfer of the Territory to the United States, five schools were in session. Two were elementary schools conducted