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205 Papers and Publications Papers and Publications Auvo Kostiainen Many types of publishing activities flourished in the Finnish American community, thus providing the immigrants with information and possibilities of network of contacts across the extensive continent and many geographical regions. This chapter discusses the formation of publishing companies, most of which were short-lived, although a number were active even for decades. Many types of books and other publications were issued. They ranged from religious to political publications, including children’s books, guidebooks, and leaflets. Mostly, the publications reflected the ideological split in the ethnic community. Immigrants brought with them cultures of their own, which were reflected strongly in the literary interests of various ethnic groups. Newspapers meant for immigrants in North American colonies were established as early as the 1700s. The most lively period for the immigrant press occurred after the First World War; in 1917, there were a total of 1,300 newspapers and periodicals published in a great variety of languages.1 Finnish American cultural and educational activity is to an important extent characterized by the publishing of a large variety of newspapers and periodicals, yearbooks, fiction, and other literature. Only a few thorough studies have been done on Finnish publishing activities in North America, although there are bibliographies published on both sides of the Atlantic by John I. Kolehmainen and others.2 The Finnish individuals and communities in the United States as well as in Canada have left a large inheritance of printed materials, and therefore I examine three main questions: Who issued the printed materials? How extensive was the volume? What was the life span of the publishing activities? Considering the publishing activities, a broad understanding of the immigrant society is needed. Since Finnish immigrants as whole were fairly literate, they were in this sense better equipped compared to many other groups of immigrants. When Finns began to land on American shores in greater numbers during the latter half of the nineteenth century, the need for literature in the Finnish language became evident, and the number of volumes began to increase. The first works published in the Finnish language in the United States appeared, so far as is known, as early as 1858–59, but not as a product on the part of the Finns themselves. The American Tract Society came out with six small Auvo Kostiainen 206 tracts in the Finnish language dealing with religion and temperance.3 The first publications for which the Finnish Americans themselves were responsible are thought to be a Finnish-language sermon by P. O. Grape and the newspaper Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti (American Finnish Journal), edited by J. A. Muikku, dating back to 1876. The first actual belletristic work was evidently a comedy titled Kappale Kapakkaelämää (A Piece of Saloon Life), written by K. A. Jurva, which appeared in 1889. Equivalent literary efforts were possibly made even earlier. The energy of Finnish American publishing was concentrated mainly on the production of newspapers . These were also very suitable for spreading factual information for immigrants, to help in the organization of immigrant activities, and to help immigrants in adjusting to American culture and society. The newspapers were on the whole business ventures belonging to one or more persons or companies. According to Häkli, literature imported from Finland played a big role commercially in the Finnish American book market. In terms of their value, books shipped to America from Finland at the beginning of the century reached tens of thousands of Finnish marks annually. After Finland achieved national independence in 1917, the value was multiplied.4 Finnish American publishing was in general scattered in the sense that there were hundreds of publishers, with many of them being short-lived individual enterprises targeting the publication of a certain book or other publication such as a book celebrating the anniversary of a society. On the other hand, there were also numerous publishers who published many titles or issued a serial for years, in FIGURE 1. Finns published a variety of newspapers and periodicals, representing a variety of ideological or societal orientations. (Source: IMT Photo collections. USA_0452) PAPERS AND PUBLICATIONS 207 some cases even decades. The publishers may be divided into four main groups: those publishing religious, temperance, labor, and other literature. In an earlier study, I discovered information on 289 publishers. The scale of publication varied, from publishers whose career was short and may include only one piece of publication, to publishers who printed titles over several decades. Of the 289 publishers...

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