A Doukhobor group in Russia, just before coming to Canada Detail of D-01139

They lived communally, which means they shared everything including the work and their possessions.

Community brick yard, Grand Forks, 1930 C-01772

Railway workers (mostly Doukhobors) on Grand Northern Line Bridesville to Midway, B.C., 1936. Detail of C-01770

Vasyl Vasilevich Holoboff:

"When we were coming to Canada, there were 2,500 of us on the ship. For 33 days we didn't see land ... a wave would lift [the ship] up and then the wheel wouldn't reach to the water, the engine would drone away until it came down, and then another wave would come. Well, we made it, thank God."

Provincial Archives of British Columbia. Sound Heritage Victoria. Vol. VI, no. 4

Polya Vasilevna Kanigan:

"We women, we cooked by two's ... we would prepare whatever for borsch, potatoes, washed dishes, set tables ... you took turns, so to speak, cooking for a week ... We had cows, not the first year but the second. Then the cows grazed in the nut groves and the milk was bitter. So we started making yogurt. That way it doesn't taste bitter. The food was good, but, of course, we didn't have tarts or pancakes. Mostly soup. I liked it here so much. The air, the clover was so fragrant."

Provincial Archives of British Columbia. Sound Heritage. Victoria. Vol. VI, no. 4

The women prepare the meals for their brethren, early 1900s C-01356

Anuta Pavlovna Popoff:

"When I turned thirteen, then I was already appointed to herd cows. Then the cows were tended so they wouldn't get into the wheat and trample it ... We girls would take our turn by a week each and then the boys would start. Children were given the job of weeding the wheat ... As soon as it's nearing lunchtime, we'd run home and there grandmother has already prepared something for lunch."

Provincial Archives of British Columbia. Sound Heritage. Victoria. Vol. VI, no. 4

Children in flax field Grand Forks, 1918 C-01745