From Finland to North America: Buildings, Landscapes, and Cultural Change

Professor Arnold Alanen will give a talk on the Finnish immigrant story and the world the immigrants built in North America, at 10:30 a.m., Sat., January 16, at the Cloquet Public Library. Among the most fascinating aspects of the Finnish immigrant experience is the transfer of cultural traits from Finland to North America. Included in this transfer were building traditions (especially the sauna), and ideas about the development and organization of the cultural landscape – settlements, farmsteads, fields, gardens, and so forth.

His program will offer numerous illustrations of historic Finnish buildings and cultural landscapes. Special attention will be given to the similarities and differences that existed between the environments Finns experienced and formed in their homeland and in North America.

The event is free of charge and open to the public.

Alanen is Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and current Finlandia Foundation Lecturer of the Year (LOY). He is also an author and most recently published the book Morgan Park: Duluth, U.S. Steel, and the forging of a company town, winning a Northeastern Minnesota Book Award in 2007. He is currently working on a book about the history of the Finns in Minnesota. He was named an Honorary Member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, one of the organization’s highest awards and was termed “a tireless advocate for the preservation of historic landscapes.”

For more information, call 879-1531