The Finnish Collection consists of 100 reels of microfilm concerning Finnish-American Churches, Labor Societies, Temperance Organizations, and other materials from the United States and Canada. The collection is the result of a joint project between the Bentley Library, Suomi College (now Finlandia University), and the University of Turku, Finland, coordinated in 1974-75.
The Suomi College Finnish-American Collection is comprised of 100 reels of microfilm containing records from 151 separate organizations (68 of which are located in Michigan). These organizations are comprised of the following kinds of records:
- Church materials: 62 record groups (32 from Michigan)
- Labor societies: 9 record groups (0 from Michigan)
- Temperance materials: 61 record groups (26 from Michigan
Other organizations, including educational, relief, musical, athletic, national, historical societies, publishing companies, and some personal: 19 record groups (10 from Michigan)
Because the materials have been filmed in a random order, an index at the end of the container listing has been prepared to guide the researcher to specific kinds of records: church, temperance, etc.