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Paper Short Abstract:

This paper examines the literary voices of Finnish-American migrant-settler women in diasporic and alternative archives. Their writings, reflecting cultural preservation and settler colonialism, offer insights into women’s lives while silencing other marginalized voices in the archives.

Paper Abstract:

The archival materials that document migrant history, cultures and traditions are diasporic memory sources often underrepresented in national memories. Furthermore, studying migrant women requires engagement with “alternative archives” (Smith and Watson 2021). This paper explores the literary voices of Finnish-American migrant women found within these diasporic and alternative archives.

One significant medium for conveying female voices was the transnational socialist women’s newspaper Toveritar (The Comradess), published from 1911 to 1930 in Astoria, Oregon. The establishment of a Finnish-language women’s newspaper represented a considerable achievement for women, a process that spanned several years. The editor, Selma Jokela-McCone, recognized the potential of preserving women’s and working-class history in the paper, and actively encouraged readership contributions to Toveritar. Consequently, numerous women across North America submitted stories, poetry, and local news, in addition to sharing their expertise in vernacular healing and practical advice for adapting to a new homeland. Beyond their contributions to the newspaper, women wrote ephemera, autobiographies, plays, books, and songs as well as translated others’ texts.

The writings of these women reflect their experiences as migrant women and mothers striving to preserve the Finnish language and culture while contributing to settler colonial structures. These literary voices constitute a vital alternative archive that provides insight into the everyday lives, values, and traditions upheld by these women. This paper also addresses how preserving migrant sources contributed silencing other marginalized voices in the archives. It directly engages with the panel’s themes of “Implicit, female voices in the archive” and “Female histories and silences.”