Finnish American Heritage Center Oral History Collection Index

A large collection of oral histories from the Copper Country (in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) and northeastern Minnesota were recorded in the 1970s by staff and students of Suomi College, now Finlandia University. Rev. Dr. Arthur Puotinen led the project and received a grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. There are approximately 250 hours of transcribed interviews and about 150 hours of non-transcribed interviews. In 2010, the Finnish American Historical Archive and Museum received a generous grant from the Keweenaw National Historic Park Advisory Commission to digitize the Finnish Folklore and Social Change in the Great Lakes Mining Region Oral History collection. Complete interviews and transcripts are available to visiting researchers at the Finnish American Historical Archive.