January 12, 2022
Virtanen to present at online public symposium: Exploring Sugar Island’s Early Finnish History
In 1916, a Finnish immigrant to North America, Frank Aaltonen, visited Sugar Island, Michigan, and was highly impressed by the opportunities the island presented. The island was the traditional home of the Anishinaabeg, but by the early 20th century, its population was a mixture of several ethnicities. Aaltonen envisioned the island as a Finnish colony of farmers. A recruiting campaign ensued, and by the 1930s several hundred Finns had moved on the island. Join Finnish and American scholars in exploring [...]