First Museum of Russian America marks 35th anniversary of its foundation.

First Museum of Russian America marks 35th anniversary of its foundation.

19.08.2025 10:17

The year 1990 saw the opening of the Kuskov Memorial Flat in Tot’ma, a small town even by the Vologda Region’s standards. The town once prided itself on its salt making and the seafaring merchants who traded in Siberia and America. It was a native of Totma, Ivan Kuskov, who founded Fort Ross in California.

In 1812 the first Russian colony appeared in California. Twenty-five Russians along with 80 Aleuts headed by a native of Tot’ma town Ivan Kuskov, Chief Administrator of the Russian-American Company, stepped ashore near the mouth of an unnamed river (which they subsequently named the Slavyanka) and established Fort Ross.

Kuskov made five naval trips to California. On 30 August 1812, the flag of Russia was raised over the completed Fort Ross near what is today San Francisco. Kuskov was able to buy the land where they built the fort for three blanks, three pairs of pants, two axes, three mattocks, and several strings of pearls. The fort was erected in half a year. Ten years later Ivan Kuskov went home, arriving there in 1823 with an Aleut wife. He bought a home, where he died several months later, as the long journey had damaged his health.

Now Kuskov’s former house has been made into a museum full of objects from his California adventures brought by friends of the museum. There is a long-standing friendship between the Totma regional experts and the workers at the Fort Ross museum.

Lots of tourists arrive in the Vologda Region to visit Tot’ma, a hometown of Ivan Kuskov, the founder of Fort Ross.

The museum tells the story of life of a Tot'ma-born navigator Ivan Kuskov. In 1823 Kuskov returned with his wife to Totma, where he died several years later and was buried at the Spaso-Sumorin Monastery.

In 1990 the house where Kuskov spent the last months of his life became a branch of the Totma Museum Complex. It contains items, documents and prints related to the exploration of California. Soon afterwards residents of Totma and Fort Ross established the tradition of showing the tolling of the bells in the churches of Totma and Fort Ross via live video links.

The town of Tot’ma was often visited by official delegations from the USA and representatives of indigenous American groups.