by Johanna Weissing* The prairies of western Minnesota have more to offer than first meets the eye. The area is often overlooked in favor of popular tourist destinations along the North Shore or the state’s …
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Kokko and Aurinko: A Finnish-American Juhannus Festival
by John Prusynski* The Upper Peninsula of Michigan can be a cold, dark place at times. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the Finnish-American immigrants who came to this area brought with them traditions of …
New Film about Nordic America
In 1965, citizens of the small town of Ulen, Minnesota, founded the Ulen Historical Museum. Since then, the museum has continued to be run by an all-volunteer staff and become a central part of the …
Building the Bonfire: 2018 Juhannus Midsummer Festival
As part of the 2018 summer field school—FOLKLORE 490: Field Methods and the Public Presentation of Folklore—students and instructors from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Finlandia University, and St. Olaf College volunteered at and documented the …
2018 Sustaining Scandinavian Folk Music Symposium Recap
The 2018 World Records Symposium was hosted at Memorial Library (April 12–14) and this year’s theme was Sustaining Scandinavian Folk Music in the Upper Midwest. Organized by three campus folklorists—Marcus Cederström (Community Curator of Nordic-American …
LeRoy Larson: Preserving Scandinavian Folk Music in the Upper Midwest
By Jared Schmidt Since 2015, LeRoy Larson of Lakeland, Minnesota, has begun donating his treasure trove of Scandinavian folk music and related materials, including photographs, interviews, and 333 78 RPMs to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This …