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Archival description
Finlandia Club collection
Collection · 1903 - 1965

Collection is organized into the following series:
I. Hoito Restaurant
II. Port Arthur Workingmen’s Association: Imatra no. 9
III. C.T.K.L. (Canadian Industrial Unions: Port Arthur’s Finnish Association)
IV. C.U.T. (Canadian News Service) and C.T.K.L.
V. Finlandia Club
VI. Finnish Socialist Local no. 6: Port Arthur
VII. Lumber Workers’ Industrial Union of the One Big Union
VIII. New Attempt Temperance Society
IX. Finnish Athletic Club: Nahjus
X. Finnish Building Company
XI. Miscellaneous

Finnish Radio Tapes
Collection

Recordings of radio programs produced in Finnish.

Labour Temple Time Capsule
Collection · 1909

This time capsule reflects the intentions of the builders of the Labour Temple at the start of construction. It demonstrates an awareness of posterity and their hopes for the cultural significance of the building. The documents clearly reflect the socialist beliefs of the builders.

  • Copper box, damaged during retrieval in 2022.
  • Printed text of a speech given by Moses Hahl during the dedication.
  • Minutes of the Executive of the Finnish Building Company, October 25, 1909.
  • Two copies of Työkansa newspaper (Port Arthur), October 21, 1909. One printed on paper and the other on silk.
  • One copy of Työmies newspaper (Hancock, Michigan), October 16, 1909.
Collection · 2023

Viljo Rosvall and Janne Voutilainen, while working to organize lumber workers with the Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada (LWIUC) at Onion Lake, disappeared in November 1929 and were later found dead. These deaths have been contested: many believe that they were killed for their work in the labour movement, while the official inquest stated their deaths were accidental and due to drowning.

This collection of records includes academic and popular articles related to the deaths of Rosvall and Voutilainen, and materials related to their grave site and memorials. The most significant item here is an affidavit made by Arthur Alanko to Ernie Epp and Paul Pugh: he states that while visiting Finland in 1990 he was given information about men who had killed Rosvall and Voutilainen and then returned to Finland. This information is new to the story as generally understood and told as part of Thunder Bay's popularly understood history.

Epp, A. Ernest
St. Urho's Day Collection
Collection · 1996-2025

St. Urho's Day is celebrated on March 16 each year in Thunder Bay, as well as in many Finnish-Canadian and Finnish-American Communities. These records relate to both the wider holiday and to its celebration in Thunder Bay.

St. Urho is a [fictional] Finnish saint, renowned for driving the grasshoppers (or, in early legends, frogs) out of the Finnish vineyards. The story of St. Urho originated in Minnesota in the 1950s, and it has over time become a popular aspect of Finnish-American and Finnish-Canadian culture. People wear purple and green to participate in parades, celebrations, and performances.

Collection · 1999-2005

Material collected related to the creation and publication of the book "Sweating with Finns: Sauna Stories from North America," edited by Kaarina Kailo, Raija Warkentin, and Jorma Halonen, and published 2005 by the Centre for Northern Studies, Lakehead University.

Collection

A vast and varied collection of records documenting the experiences of Finnish immigrants to Northwestern Ontario. Includes correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, interviews, published material, and ephemera. The photograph collection is extensive and covers a wide range of subjects.

The records are arranged into the following series:
A - Bay Street Project
B - Finnpraxis Project
C - Collections
D - Photographs
E - Miscellaneous
F - Finnish Experience