Minneapolis Finnish Workers Society (Minnesota) records
Abstract
The Minneapolis Finnish Workers Society collection consists primarily of music, but also includes a few non-musical items pertaining to the social activities of the organization during the 1910s to 1930s. The materials included offer a glimpse of the type of music, both published and in manuscript, used at the Finnish Workers Society's gatherings. The music is primarily instrumental, however two songbooks are included - both in English and printed in the 1910s. The three non-musical items are a copy of the Leif Eriksson Writing Contest rules, a cut-off section of a Carl Fischer music catalog, and a single handwritten page, possibly notes for food for a Society meeting.
Dates
- Creation: 1900-1930
Conditions Governing Access
Open for use in the Elmer L. Andersen Library reading room.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection may be protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code). It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials. Researchers may quote from the collection under the fair use provision of the copyright law.
Biographical / Historical
The Minneapolis Finnish Workers Society originated in 1901 as a speakers club within Vesa, the newly revived temperance society; in 1903, the name "Vesa" was changed to "Finnish Workers Society"; by 1905, the society's liberalism drove more conservative temperance members out. On Dec. 6, 1905, 41 people signed their names to an affiliation document with the emerging Finnish Socialist Federation. In 1913, the society opened a new hall that attracted large crowds - also many otherwise unaffiliated Finns - for the society's activities. After the World War I, the Finnish Socialist Federation splintered. Those who promoted the new Communist Party dominated, and the rest left. Later also those who had stayed in the Hall were fighting among themselves, and in 1935 they failed to make the last mortgage payment on the building. The rest of the Finnish community were so unsympathetic that they refused to bail the radicals out. Thus, the building went to creditors and ultimately was torn down. Those who were thrown out of the Hall formed in 1930 a new Minneapolis Finnish Workers Society. However, the times were different and the society dissolved into non-political activity within the Finnish American Society formed after 1941.
Extent
1.5 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Finnish
- Title
- Inventory of the Minneapolis Finnish Workers Society (Minnesota) records.
- Author
- IHRC Archives
- Date
- 2016
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Collecting Area Details
Contact The Immigration History Research Center Archives Collecting Area
