As we can see here, the Doukhobors had various cultural connections to the society of the day - within Russia they considered themselves a separate group with its own sensibility, its own oral history, and its own frame of reference to their own existence. However, when the time came to interact with Russian society both voluntarily and involuntarily, the Doukhobors were quite capable of communicating their desires, needs and aspirations with the leading intelligentsia of the day. In later years, in the new adopted homeland of Canada, they managed to retain their own identity for several generations, but once again inter-related as and when necessary, both through written communication and through the exchange of handicrafts, working techniques and various tools which they availed themselves of whenever possible and suitable and necessary throughout the settlement times.

Once the communal system disappeared, the Doukhobors turned to all of the skills and resources available with even more vigour to continue to interpret their own culture, now in more modern terms, although in many handicrafts such as embroidery and rug making, they continued to use traditional methods because they were the best for the job and were suited to the artistic expression. In a 1999 letter to the author, textile expert Dorothy K. Burnham wrote: ‘...I have spent a lifetime researching, studying and writing about the history and development of the textile arts in Canada. The rugs that were woven by Doukhobor women...are unique in North America...with their careful and skilled designing and their exuberant use of colour, they speak loudly and clearly of a spirit that would not be crushed... ‘ [Letter to the writer, 1999] However, those skills in which power tools were a worthy addition, such as spoon making, the craftsmen soon adopted power methods available and invented other tools to be able to continue to make such items as were previously turned out on foot powered lathes; spoons, salt cellars, and even spinning wheels.

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