Elmer L. Andersen Library Atrium Gallery at the UMN currently has a little exhibit (there was also a symposium which I did not attend) on Finnish immigration to Minnesota and being Finnish, it was nice to see something on Finnish Minnesota history (there was even a blurb on ‘the sauna’!). Overall it was a bit small, but at least they did something on Finnish-Minnesotans.
The exhibit is called: Juhla!: Celebrating 150 years of Finnish immigration to Minnesota
Here is the blurb from the Andersen Library:
“In 1864, a small group of Finns disembarked from a riverboat in Red Wing, Minnesota, beginning the immigration of Finns into our state. Join us as we commemorate and explore their settlement experiences. The exhibit features photographs, publications, and other materials from the rich Finnish American collections of the Immigration History Research Center Archives.
Over the past century and a half, Finland has gone from a country of emigration to a country of immigration. While Finns in the nineteenth century were migrating to North America, today, Finland is receiving sizable numbers of newcomers, including refugees from Somalia and other countries.
Timed to recognize the 150th anniversary of Finnish immigration to the Minnesota, “From Emigration to Immigration” is an interdisciplinary and international symposium at the University of Minnesota. It will explore historical and contemporary immigration in Europe, Somali immigration to Finland in comparative perspective, and drawing from our significant research collections in the Immigration History Research Center Archives, the history of Finnish immigration to the US” (http://www.continuum.umn.edu/event/exhibit-opening-for-juhla-celebrating-150-years-of-finnish-immigration-to-minnesota/#.VGb5nIeJlXc and http://www.continuum.umn.edu/2014/10/juhla-celebrating-150-years-of-finnish-immigration-to-minnesota/#.VGb7NYeJlXc)
