The National Library's collection of Finnish-American newspapers has been digitized up until the end of 1923. The collection had often received requests for digitization and is a significant source of material for the use of migration history, population history and genealogy. The papers tell the story of life in Finnish communities and are freely available everywhere through the digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi service.

Front page of Canadan uutiset from 1915. The motto of the magazine was “amity in mutual matters, freedom in private matters, and benevolence in all matters”. Source: digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi.

It is possible to make different searches in the material or, for example, browse it by title.  Some of the material can also be used on microfilmfiche at the National Library.The collection contains 174 newspaper and magazine items since 1876.

Political and spiritual associations of Finnish immigrants, as well as various local communities, published their own papers in the United States and Canada. The places of publication tell the history of Finnish settlement: Duluth, Astoria, Hancock, New York, Fitchburg, etc. Periodicals were printed in Finnish, Swedish and English. In part, the languages were mixed into Finglish, a special form of Finnish used by American Finns.  

Some publications have a link to the present day. For example, Canadan uutiset was in print until 2000 and has since merged with The Finnish Update: Pohjois-Amerikan uutiset, a politically independent newspaper.

The National Library's digitized collection of Finnish-American newspapers accumulated during the North American mass migration. The largest number of immigrants that moved to America went between the 1870s and the 1920s. The papers provide a varied picture of the everyday life of migrants and the New World, but also provide information on how Finnish and European issues were reported across the ocean.

The digital collection will be supplemented during 2024 with additional material, also digitized in the United States, copies of which have been donated to the National Library by the Library of Congress. This material comprises approximately 5,000 pages of Toveritar, Auttaja and Uusi kotimaa issues, which have been missing from the physical collection of the National Library.

In addition, Finnish-American material that was released after 1924 has been digitized to some extent. For copyright reasons, it is only available on the workstations of legal deposit libraries.

Further information

Finnish-American serial publications in digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi(opens a new tab)
Finnish-American serial publications in the National Library's search service(opens a new tab)