tendent of Schools, Arthur Lampe, and with Herbert Latvaia serving as secretary. Among other events, the committee arranged a mass meeting on 30 December 1939 at the Duluth Armory, with Herbert Hoover as the main speaker; a concert on 4 February following, with the Duluth Symphony playing an evening of music by Sibelius; and a funds collection drive on 17 and 18 February in the Duluth theaters, with girls dressed in Finnish national costumes as money-raisers. By the 20th of February the committee had collected $20,600, in addition to which smaller gifts were still being accepted in March and April.

Historical Work, Its Beginning and Development: The achieve

ments of the Finns in Duluth and elsewhere in Minnesota, as individuals and organizations, would probably never have been preserved as a complete account in the memory of future generations, as proof that Finns had indeed once lived there, worked and died there, if an earnest devotion to the history had not become apparent in Duluth.

A preoccupation with the past had long been alive among FinnishAmericans, but it remained for Solomon Ilmonen to guide it into scientific research. To this pastor, who had filled various pulpits in Minnesota, historical research had originally been a hobby, but in time it became his main activity. His history of Finnish-Americans in three volumes, and his two-volume history of civilization, together with his innumerable shorter works and articles, have remained the cornerstone of Finnish-American history to this day. The facts discovered by Ilmonen have appeared again and again in later works written by others, and even his errors of fact have become almost credible through repetition by others. Ilmonen was a member of the American Historical Society, and as such he was aware of the limits of any individual's undertakings. He tried to arouse interest in his subject and to get others to work in that field, and it was through his urging that an effort was made to carry on an organized program of Finnish historical research : a meeting, which resulted in the formation of the Finnish American Historical Society, was held on 15 March 1920 in Brooklyn, New York. In 1926 this Society had Consul K. Aaltio as its chairman, Vice-Consul K. Potti as its vice-chairman, Ilmonen as secretary and treasurer, and K. Arminen, H. Runo, J. Wargelin, J. Lempiö and Antero Riippa as members. Interesting in this membership was the presence of official Finnish spokesmen, evidence of the interest shown in Finland itself to these historical matters. The president of the Finnish Historical Society, Professor

283