Arlene Lehto served three terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1977-1983, representing District 8a. Lehto was elected as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party. Born in Duluth of Finnish heritage, she graduated from Two Harbors High School and attended the University of Minnesota, Duluth, studying Speech and Political Science. Lehto received a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellowship in 1983 to attend Harvard University, where she earned a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government. Lehto was known as a prominent environmentalist in Duluth. She was the founding President of the Save Lake Superior Association, which was formed to fight pollution in the lake. Save Lake Superior Association and Lehto were active in the Reserve Mining legal case regarding taconite tailings discharged into the lake. She Lehto was the 1973 recipient of the Minnesota Public Health Association's Albert J. Chesley Award and the 1974 U.S. EPA Region V Citizen Activist Award. During her legislative term Lehto was the co-author of several key bills including the 1980 Acid Deposition Act and was also a key advocate of an early version of Minnesota’s Clean Indoor Air Act.

Clara Stocker was a musician, composer, performer, linguist, and educator whose home was Duluth from her birth until 1952. She was the only daughter of physician Samuel Marston Stocker and composer and musical director Stella Prince Stocker. Like her mother, Clara was a composer and music educator. While she lectured on many musical and literary subjects, her specialty was the arts of Finland. She was fluent in Finnish, and she had a long association with the Finnish painter Juho Rissanen who lived in Finland.

Contact the archives for more information on and access to this collection.

This includes some coverage of Finnish immigrant family life.

The Minnesota Finnish-American Historical Society was organized in 1942. Its purpose was to record and preserve Finnish heritage and promote Finnish tradition and customs. At the time covered by the bulk of the materials in this collection, there were eight active local chapters: Brainard, Duluth, Fergus Falls, Hibbing, Nashwauk, New York Mills, Sebeka, and the Twin Cities.

Contact the archives for more information on and access to this collection.