Introduction

Sidney Robertson Cowell, collector. *Celia Koljonen (right) and unidentified woman from Finland.* 1939. WPA California Folk Music Project, 1938-1940. Library of Congress American Folklife Center.

American Folklife Center collections of Finns in Finland and the United States document the diversity of their expressive culture. Among its unique collections are Finnish language songs and music recorded by Alan Lomax in Michigan in 1938; folk songs and Kalevalaic songs documented by the Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura in Finland; and an audio recording and other documentation of a symposium on the Kalevala at the Library of Congress in 1985.

California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell

This online presentation, California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties, comprises 35 hours of folk music recorded in 12 languages representing numerous ethnic groups and 185 musicians. It includes sound recordings, still photographs of the performers, drawings of folk instruments, and written documentation from a variety of European ethnic and English- and Spanish-speaking communities in northern California in the 1930s.

California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell
This New Deal project was organized and directed by folk music collector Sidney Robertson Cowell for the Northern California Work Projects Administration. Sponsored by the University of California, Berkeley, and cosponsored by the Archive of American Folk Song (now the American Folklife Center archive), this undertaking was one of the earliest ethnographic field projects to document European, Slavic, Middle Eastern, and English- and Spanish-language folk music in one region of the United States.

Additional Collections of Interest

The following materials link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to digital content are provided when available.

Alan Lomax collection of Michigan and Wisconsin recordings
Call Number: AFS 2237-2486
Published/Created: 1938-1939
Collection of field recordings with related color film documenting instrumental music, songs, stories, and interviews recorded primarily in Michigan and Wisconsin by Alan Lomax, August 1-November 1, 1938 for the Archive of American Folk-Song, Library of Congress. Includes folk songs, sea songs, ballads, lumbering songs and stories, Paul Bunyan stories, bawdy songs, blues, humorous and popular songs, and dance music. Vocal and instrumental music from various ethnic groups was performed musical instruments including svirale, gusle, diple, duduk, fiddle, clarinet, cymbalon, banjo, guitar, concertina, mandolin, accordion, harmonica, and kantele.
Audio recordings available online: Alan Lomax collection of Michigan and Wisconsin recordings
Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura [Finnish Literature Society] collection
Call Number: AFC 1986/055
Published/Created: 1977 and 1979
Two cassettes of Finnish folk songs issued by Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura [Finnish Literature Society] with accompanying booklets. Kalevalaic songs performed by Nelipolviset (The Tetrametrics) with accompanying booklet, "Kalevalaisia Lauluja: Sävelmät, Sanat ja Selitykset" (Kalevalaic Songs: Tunes, Words, and Explanations), issued by the Finnish Literature Society in 1979. Also, "Perinnelipas 1: Lauluja, Loitsuja, Loruja" (Heritage Notebook 1: Songs, Rhymes, Riddles), selections from the Finnish Literature Society Folklore Archive, 1977, cassette and booklet.
Lauri Honko interview, 1981 January 21
Call Number: AFC 1981/023
Published/Created: 1981
Audio recording and photographs of an interview and roundtable discussion with visiting folklorist Lauri Honko, director of the pan-Scandinavian Nordic Institute of Folklore, interviewed by Alan Jabbour, head of the American Folklife Center on January 21, 1981 at the Library of Congress. The collection includes a copy of Honko's printed report, "Visiting Folkloristic Research Centres in the U.S.A." (7 p.) which describes this interview and discussion as well as his visits to the other leading centers of folklore research, teaching, and archives in the United States. Photographs of the event include images of Lauri Honko and Alan Jabbour with American Folklife Center staff and roundtable participants.
The Kalevala and Finnish identity in Finland and America: a symposium commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Kalevala, 1985 January 24.
Call Number: AFC 1985/023
Published/Created: 1985
ollection of documentation from "The Kalevala and Finnish Identity in Finland and America: A Symposium Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Kalevala," presented by the American Folklife Center and the Embassy of Finland, held at the Library of Congress on January 24, 1985. The program included a reading from the Kalevala in Finnish and in English translation; academic panel discussions; and screening of selections from "In Palo at Laskiainen, everyone is a Finn," a documentary film made in Palo, Minnesota, by Smithsonian Institution ethnomusicologist Thomas Vennum, Jr.

Podcasts and Blog Posts

James P. Leary and Folksongs of Another America
Folklorist Stephen Winick discusses James P. Leary's book on folksongs of the upper Midwest drawn from American Folklife Center Collections with quotes from an interview with the author. Includes Finnish examples. (Folklife Today blog: July 30, 2015)

Public Programming

Ánnámáret is the performing name of Sámi musician Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman. Ánnámáret performs yoik, a distinctive singing and songwriting tradition of the Sámi people. For her Homegrown concert, Ánnámáret is joined by two members of her Nieguid duovdagat project: Ilkka Heinonen (who specializes in folk music on the jouhikko, G-violone and contrabass) and Turkka Inkilä (who plays flutes and electronic instruments). (Event date: April 07, 2021)

Additional Public Programming

Kardemimmit
Kardemimmit is a quartet consisting of Maija Pokela, Jutta Rahmel, Anna Wegelius and Leeni Wegelius, four women who sing and play kantele. The kantele is a zither or plucked psaltery which is the national instrument of Finland, and comes in several sizes. They mostly play 15-stringed and 38-stringed versions of the instrument. (Event date: April 07, 2021)

American Folklife Center Collections: Finland

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