Tag Archive: Jim Kurtti

March 2, 2022

Bridge Feature: Eld delivers archive in ‘Finnebago’

Former Finnish American Heritage Center (FAHC) director Jim Kurtti traveled to New England in the fall of 2019 and met with multiple donors who made gracious contributions of Finnish American archives to be preserved and shared with the Archive and Center’s visitors. Until now, the archives were stored in New England before they were able to be transported safely by none other than Frank Eld and his famed ‘Finnebego’. On a journey that started in New England, Eld transported [...]

Juha Vidgren of Ponsse presenting at Finlandia University

March 15, 2019

Going Global with Ponsse Chairman Juha Vidgrén

Guest host Briana Gorman was visited on Finlandia Fridays this week by Juha Vidgrén, chairman of the board for Ponsse. Ponsse is a Finnish-based company that builds logging equipment.

The company was started in 1970 by Vidgrén’s father, who started out as a farmer that did logging on the weekends. Moving full-time into logging, Vidgrén’s father started to buy old farm equipment to help with the job. Because the equipment consistently broke, [...]

February 11, 2019

Finnish American Heritage Center publishes cookbook that’s more than recipes

The Finns’ influence on Copper Country food ways is well documented.

Now, it’s also well compiled.

The Finnish American Heritage Center has recently completed a picture and story laden cookbook titled “Tastes of Finnish America: Foods That Make Us Smile.”

An homage to Finnish-American life and food ways in the Copper Country, this volume features the stunning photography of Finnish photographer Timo Villanen, who spent weeks in the U.P. during the summer of 2018 [...]

December 18, 2018

Finnish American Heritage Center to be featured in TV6’s “A Finnish Christmas”

The roots of Finnish heritage in the Upper Peninsula will be explored in a program called “A Finnish Christmas” this holiday season on TV6 and Fox U.P.

The program features host Walt Lindala who talks to Jim Kurtti from the Finnish American Heritage Center at Finlandia University in Hancock and Tanya Stanaway, a musician and Finnish language teacher from Ishpeming. The program will air on Fox U.P. on Thursday, December 20 at 7:30 p.m., and on TV6 on Christmas [...]

November 28, 2018

Finns of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula book released by Finnish American Heritage Center

The Finns’ influence on Upper Michigan’s life, history and culture is well documented. Now, it’s also well compiled and ready for a place on your bookshelf or coffee table. The Finnish American Heritage Center has recently completed a book in the “Images of America” series through Arcadia Press titled “Finns of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.”

Though the book includes contributions from some other agencies, it primarily contains images from the FAHC’s extensive photo collection. [...]

June 6, 2018

Finnish-American documentary wins prestigious Eclipse Award

An Eclipse took place in early May in Grand Rapids, and in this instance no special glasses are needed for viewing – just a DVD player and an interest in the history of Finnish-American co-operatives.

“Co-operatively Yours,” the 2017 film by Kristin Ojaniemi and the Finnish American Heritage Center, took home the “Best Documentary” honor at the 2018 Eclipse Awards, an annual event created to honor Michigan’s creators in film and television. The Eclipse Awards are chosen by [...]

December 1, 2017

Celebrating the Finnish Centennial with Jim Kurtti

Finlandia Fridays was visited by another familiar face this week with guest star Jim Kurtti, the director of the Finnish American Heritage Center. Kurtti stopped by to talk about the 100th anniversary celebration of Finnish Independence.

“It has been a whole year of centennial celebrations, both here in the Copper Country and around the country,” stated Kurtti. The final event will be hosted in the Keewenaw at the Rozsa Center, located on Michigan Tech’s [...]

November 1, 2017

Virtanen, Kurtti and Chopp participating in 41 North Film Festival

On Saturday night at 7:30 three Finlandia employees will be participating in a panel discussion following the showing of Sami Blood during the 41 North Film Festival at Michigan Tech.

About Sami Blood

In this lyrical and psychologically-complex drama, a 14-year-old Sámi girl is subjected to racism and eugenic scrutiny in the 1930s when she is removed from her family and sent to a state-run school that aims to reeducate her into Swedish culture. Newcomer Lene Cecilia Sparrok brilliantly portrays the fierce [...]

August 14, 2017

Jim Kurtti featured in Finnish Embassy’s Centennial Video Series

The Embassy of Finland in Washington D.C. has posted a 80-second video of Jim Kurtti, Director of the Finnish American Heritage Center, as part of its #100FriendsOfFinland Centennial Video Series. The embassy has a total of 100 videos that will be shared leading up to the 100th anniversary of Finland’s independence.

Others featured in the series include late-night television host Conan O’Brien, National Hockey League players Pekka Rinne, Mikko Koivu and Mikael Granlund, and former Finlandia Foundation Lecturer of [...]

June 9, 2017

Juhannus taken to a whole new level in 2017 discussed on Finlandia Fridays

Since the very beginning of the Finns arriving in Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula the summer celebration of Juhannus has been a big part the experience, and this year the Keweenaw is taking that experience to a whole different level thanks to the effort of the staff at the Finnish American Heritage Center. A full dive into this year’s event is the feature of this week’s Finlandia Fridays featuring Director of the Finnish American Heritage Center Jim [...]

1 2 Next »