The Museum
Our museum and archive collections focus on the history, culture, and traditions of the Finnish Americans who settled in the Northeastern region of the United States. We hope that if you have not yet toured the FAHS Museum, you will schedule a visit soon.
Updates made to the FAHS museum would not have been possible without the dedication and hard work of our volunteers and the financial assistance received through several sources. These include:
The FAHS Preservation Fund which provided the funds to have the two rooms of the museum painted before the new panels were installed.
A Museum Makeover Grant which provided the consulting services of two Connecticut museum curators and a graphic designer to assist with the initial design of the opening panel.
A CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant which provided funds for additional panels and display materials for our exhibit and funds to enhance our outdoor signage.
A Collections Assessment Grant which provided a traveling archivist to assist with updating our archives.
These grants were administered by CT Humanities, with funding provided by the Connecticut State Department of Economic and Community Development and Connecticut Office of the Arts.
The wall panel, “What We Bring With Us,” and the companion interactive door panel, “What Would You Bring?” were installed on November 5, 2022. Additional exhibits highlight the Finnish connection to nature, Talkoot and the Finnish American sense of community, Finnish design and culture, the Kalevela, Finnish American connections to Poultry Farming in Eastern CT, the Imatra Society of New York, the Moomins, and Sami history and culture.
In the Fall of 2025, FAHS museum volunteers received the exciting news from Amrys Williams, Executive Director of the CT League of Museums, that our exhibit, “What We Bring With Us: Memories, Tradition, Hope,” had been selected to receive a 2025 Award of Merit from the League. In her letter to FAHS, Ms. Williams stated: “The committee felt this project was an excellent contribution from an all-volunteer organization, an exhibition that used the little-known Finnish-American experience in eastern Connecticut to invite visitors to think about immigration more generally, and to invite themselves into an immigrant’s (perhaps birch-bark) shoes.”
We are currently curating a "What We Brought with Us" exhibit for immigrants from all countries to compare and contrast what different cultures valued most when they came to the United States. Please CONTACT US if you are interested in loaning any pieces to the museum for this exhibit.
