Historical Work: Although the experience in most Finnish centers of settlement has been that their interest in the preservation of their own historical achievements and records has followed the period of cooperative effort within the Finnish relief framework, Hibbing is an exception in this respect, for here it came first. Following the examples of New York and its Historical Society, the Hibbing Cooperative Club in a meeting in March 1939 appointed a committee to begin the collection of materials of historical interest. This committee was composed of Tyyne Alanko, Edith Koivisto, and Amanda Wuopio. Soon realizing the limited possibili

ties available for their carrying out the assignment, the committee decided to sponsor the printing of a questionnaire, as a means of preserving data which would otherwise soon be forgotten and lost. However, aware that they could not carry out even this with their own limited funds, an appeal was made to the other local Finnish organizations to assist in their endeavor, but the moment was not ripe : only the work

ers Club seemed willing to discuss the project, which had to be given up.

Later, when the MFAHS was founded, Edith Koivisto represented Hibbing, which remembered its own abortive efforts and adopted a wait-and-see attitude. When local chapters of the MFAHS began to be established, however, Hibbing no longer held back: at a meeting in January 1947, at which 25 persons were present, the local chapter was founded and appropriate officers elected : Arde Laulainen, chairman; John Bispala, vice-chairman; Arnold Seppä, secretary; A. A. Koskinen, treasurer. Fifteen more persons joined in the very next meeting, and by March 1949 there

Monument to Hibbing's Finnish pioneers erected
by the Hibbing Historical Society.

527