Signed, Jane Addams: A Journey Through the Finnish American Historical Archive
Written By:
Minea Herwitz
Written by J. Chopp
There is a notion in popular culture that any two people in the world are connected in some way by no more than six steps. This theory of “six degrees of separation” has always intrigued me. Through the right network of friends-of-friends, we’re only a handful of introductions away from making the acquaintance of anyone else in the world. How exciting!
Finnish Americans play this game all the time. When we chat amongst ourselves, we constantly compare surnames, genealogies, and hometowns to see what connections we can find. I’ve lost count of the number of times a visitor to the FAHC turned out to be married to one of my distant cousins, used to work for one of my great uncles, lived next door to my elementary school teacher, or was the aunt of the boy my best friend dated in high school. It truly is a small world in Finnish America.
I often find myself making these connections back through history as well, when doing research or working with the archival collections. For example, my grandfather Walfred Mattila, served as the sexton for the cemetery in my hometown of Toivola, Michigan. Looking through the Watia Funeral Home records here at the FAHC, I’ve run across his name written in the margins as the contact person for that cemetery, so it’s likely he knew the proprietors of the Watia Funeral Home. The Watia staff in turn dealt with the families of each person whose name appears in those records. When I help a patron locate the funeral record for a deceased loved one, I feel these connections have completed a circle of sorts. Like history is reaching out of the pages to slap us in the face and demand that we pay attention.
Watia Funeral Home records featuring our archivist’s grandfather’s name: Walfred Mattila.
That’s a rather mundane and personal example, but there are items in our collections that have a broader appeal and drive home the fact that Finnish American history is American history. Once when I was refiling old donation records to update our catalog, I ran across a letter from Suomi College alum, Dr. Melvin Holli of Chicago, to one of my archival staff predecessors. He related how he was donating a copy of a 1926 book titled, “Finland: The Country, Its People and Institutions.” Almost as an afterthought, he noted that the book appeared to be signed by Jane Addams.
Jane Addams was born in 1860 in Illinois. She became a leading social reformer, an advocate for women’s rights and suffrage, founder of Hull House, the first American settlement house aimed at helping the poor in Chicago, and a noted pacifist. Even though she was not of Finnish descent, these accomplishments are more than enough to make this a noteworthy piece of history.
I believe the signature, which reads, “Jane Addams, Hull House, Chicago” is authentic. It displays the same idiosyncrasies in shape as several authenticated signatures available online. When I turned the page, the book is inscribed, “To Miss Jane Addams — From the Board of Finland Section W.L.P.F, 1929”. Addams served as the president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom from 1919 to 1929. It is her activism that led to her being awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1931.
In these few simple steps from the FAHC, to Dr. Holli and this book he found in a sale in Chicago, to a woman most of us only know from a textbook entry, I can hold in my hands this thing that creates a tangible link through history. It drives home the point that history is not just words on a page. It’s real people, their experiences, and ties to the larger network of humanity. It’s thrilling to know that’s what our archive works to preserve.
Jane Addams signature.
“Finland: The Country, Its People and Institutions.” (1926). Inscribed, “To Miss Jane Addams — From the Board of Finland Section W.L.P.F, 1929”.