Silvola, chairman, Matti Lahti, secretary, and Elmer Erkkilä from St. Paul, Matti Erkkilä from Cook, Lillian Ferris from Hibbing, Mrs. Arne Halonen and Carl Södergren from Minneapolis, Alex Kyyhkynen from Duluth, Einar E. Lauley, Niilo Peltomies and Lauri Passi from Virginia, and Henry Mattson from Cloquet. More and more, however, the actual planning work fell to the MFAHS, which prepared for the Centennial with the production of a 152page booklet, edited by E. A. Pulli, which included a reasonably complete account of the Society and its aims and purposes. With progress in the planning increasingly evident, in January 1949 the Governor of Minnesota, Luther, W. Youngdahl, proclaimed that 21 August would be "Finnish Day" at the Centennial, and in a letter of 12 January 1949 to the MFAHS he expressed his conviction that all Minnesota citizens of Finnish descent would cooperate with the Society in preparation for the Centennial and in participation in it.

Immediately after this, Alex Kyyhkynen, as President of the MFAHS, and authorized by the Governor of Minnesota, wrote to the Government of Finland to propose that an official representative be sent to the Centennial. Uuno Takki, the then Secretary of State of Finland, replied that several representatives would be sent: Lennart Heljas, for many years a government official and a member in Parliament of the Agrarian Party; Leevi Matti, Minister, long a member of Parliament, to represent Finnish labor; Professor Bruno Kaarle Suviranta, to represent the University of Helsinki, and Kalle Teodor Jutila, the Finnish Minister to Washington. And to the Finns of Minnesota, the President of Finland, Juho K. Paasikivi, sent the following greetings:

"I send my warm greetings to the Finns of the State of Minnesota and through them my greetings to all their kindred in America.

"I am convinced that you, the Finns of Minnesota, as well as all other Finnish-Americans, who are loyal citizens of your new country, will not forget Finland, the land of your fathers and forefathers. The goodwill which you have shown us during our recent difficult times and which has been manifest

in the magnificent assistance you have given us, is proof that you will not."

The official program (Memorial Program, Finnish Pioneer Day was issued, principally in English language text, in an edition of 5,000 copies, which proved too small. This 48-page booklet, edited by Tom Hiltunen, called attention to the role of the Finns in the development of Minnesota; it also listed the committees responsible for the arrangements made for this day. There was, to begin with, the MFAHS general committee for the Centennial, with Alex Kyyhkynen, Duluth, chairman; Paul Sterling, Duluth, vice-chairman; Matthew Lahti, Virginia, secretary; Einar Lauley,

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