Finland’s Great Famine, 1856-68

Description

This book will provide a thematic overview of one of European history’s most devastating famines, the Great Finnish Famine of the 1860s. In 1868, the nadir of several years of worsening economic conditions, 137,000 people (approximately 8% of the Finnish population) perished as the result of hunger and disease. The attitudes and policies enacted by Finland’s devolved administration tended to follow European norms, and therefore were often similar to the “colonial” practices seen in other famines at the time. What is distinctive about this catastrophe in a mid-nineteenth-century context, is that despite Finland being a part of the Russian Empire, it was largely responsible for its own governance, and indeed was developing its economic, political and cultural autonomy at the time of the famine. Finland’s Great Famine 1856-68 examines key themes such as the use of emergency foods, domestic and overseas charity, vagrancy and crime, emergency relief works, and emigration. Translations and spellings Acknowledgements Contents About the Author List of Figures Chapter 1: Finland’s Great Famine: Introduction When Was the Great Finnish Famine? Nineteenth-Century Finland: Geography and Rural Society Famine in Finland: Terminology and Euphemisms Chapter Overview References Bibliography Official Reports Newspapers Printed Secondary Sources Chapter 2: Famine in a Home Rule Land “Sivistys Is the Only Salvation”—Autonomous Finland in the Russian Empire “Finnishness” and Empire Finland’s Economic Progress “Famine Is Foreseen”: Entering the Great Hunger Years “Skeleton-Like People Lying among Rags”. The Disaster of 1867–8 Conclusion References Bibliography National Archives of Finland Finnish Literature Society Official Reports Websites Newspapers Printed Secondary Sources Chapter 3: Emergency Nutrition: Promoting Self-Sufficiency Hunger Gaps and Surrogate Foods “How Contemporary!”: The Use of Pine Bark Phloem Education in Lichen Bread and Mushrooms Panic and Patriotism: Food Propaganda, “Improvement” and the Impending Disaster After the Frost Night The Sea Doesn’t Compensate Access to Foodstuffs Conclusion References Bibliography Finnish National Archives, Helsinki Hull History Centre UK National Archives, London Snellman’s Correspondence Official Reports Newspapers Printed Secondary Sources Chapter 4: Domestic Charity: Nation Building in a Time of Crisis Internal Aid in Finland—1856–7 Internal Aid in Finland—1862–3 Self-Sufficiency and Compassion Fatigue—1866–8 Helsinki in 1867–8 Other Parts of Finland Conclusion References Bibliography Official Reports Newspapers Printed Secondary Sources Chapter 5: External Philanthropy 1856–1868 Overseas Aid to Finland 1856–1868: An Overview Foreign Motivations for Charitable Interventions, 1856–1868 General Humanitarian Narratives Imperial Connections Scandinavian Connections Other Ethnic and Linguistic Connections Religious Connections Business Connections Knowledge of Finland and Personal Connections Overseas Aid and the Fennomane Self-Sufficiency Narrative Conclusion References Bibliography National Library of Finland, Helsinki National Board of Antiquities, Helsinki Official Reports Newspapers Printed Secondary Sources Chapter 6: Vagrancy and Perceptions of Crime Migration in Nineteenth-Century Finland Internal Migration and the Great Hunger Years Overview 1856–1867 Bracing for the Worst The Culmination of the Great Hunger Years Conclusion References Bibliography Snellman’s Correspondence UK National Archives, London Official Reports Films Newspapers Printed Secondary Sources Chapter 7: Relief Works Schemes Relief Work in Finland Road and smaller-scale local initiatives Canal Work Railway Work Conclusion References Bibliography Finnish Literature Society Archives, Helsinki Finnish National Archives, Helsinki Kuopio Museum UK National Archives, London Snellman’s Correspondence Official Reports Newspapers Printed Secondary Sources Chapter 8: Seeking Refuge Outside of Finland Migration to Russia and the Russian Empire Migration to Scandinavia Migration to North America Conclusion References Bibliography Finnish National Archives, Helsinki Official Reports Newspapers Printed Secondary Sources Chapter 9: Conclusion Contemporary Notions of Culpability Counter-Hegemonic Narratives Hard Times: The Work of Lost Generations References Bibliography Snellman’s Correspondence Newspapers Websites Printed Secondary Sources Bibliography Manuscript and Archival Sources National Board of Antiquities, Helsinki National Archives of Finland, Helsinki National Library of Finland, Helsinki Finnish Literature Society Hull History Centre Kuopio Museum UK National Archives, London Printed Sources Snellman’s Correspondence Official Reports Films Websites Newspapers Other Printed and Secondary Sources Index