|
While Finland became independent after World War I (1914-18), major social change did not become apparent until after World War II (1939-45). Finnish families before World War II tended to be large and commonly included elderly grandparents and sometimes other relatives as well. The country was still largely rural. People lived in the countryside and often had large houses, commonly farmhouses. As in other countries, it made economic sence for farm families to be large. Gender was an important matter. A boy was needed to take over the family farm. There was lots to do on a farm of any size. This is the general pattern around the world. The more prosperous farmers alsh had paid help. The population pattern tended to be pyrameducal with many children and a few elderly people, the basic pattern of rural developing countries. [Notkola, p. 276.] This began to change after World War II as Finland began to industrialize and the population became more urbanized. Urban families tended to be smaller than farm families. Large families no longer made economic sense. Finland suffered heavily during the War. It fought two wars with the Soviets and at the end had tio fight the Germans as well. Losses of military-age men meant affected both family structure and family formation. There were mamy single-parent families headed by widows. This mean that fewer mothers could stay at hime Grandparents were more commonly cared for in old-age home homes rather than family homes. We have begun to collect some information on Finnish families so these developments can be observed. The family segment of HBC provides a wealth of date about Finnish society, The family images for various decades provide interesting information about family life and social trends as well as the clothing and hair style fashions. They also provide insights as to the fashions worn by other members over time. It is interesting to see what adult and girl fashions were associated with the various styles that boys wore over time. We are collecting information on families from different regions as well as various demographic segments to provide a complete view of Finninsh society over time.
We have not yet been able to find any images of Finnish families during the 19th century. Finland at the time was part of ther Tsarist Empire.
Finland began the 20th century as part of the Russian Empire. It was a largely rural area of the Russian Empire with most of the population living on family farms. Finland was more prosperous than the Russian hearland, but images at the turn-of-the century are quite similar to Russia. This gradyally changed after iundependence. At the end of World I, the country gained its independence (1918). The population continued to be largely rural nduring the inter-War period. The images show a relatively healthy, well-fed looking population, although not with a lot of consumer goods like fashionable clothes. Finland was an early target of Soviet aggression in World war II. Finns suffered greatly in the Winter War (1939-40), but the outcome unlike the Baltics was that the Finns were not dragged into the Soviet Empire. Finland changed fundamentally after World War II and this inevitably affected family life and structure. The country rapidly industrialized, benefitting from the rapid economic recovery of Western Europe creating markets for Finnish exports. Finland began the War as a poor, bit in Russian trms rekativelyn posperous provunce of the Russian Empire. The country achieved irs indeoence after Workd War I, but was devestated by the Soviet Winter War invasion and then Workd War II. The country somehaow managed to retain its independence, but had to agree to Finlandization. This provided a narrow window allowing substantial trade with the West and democatic, capitalist institutions. Finland manage to develope one of the high income economies of Western Europe. All this was in sharp contrast to developments across the border in the Soviet Union.
We have not yet found Finnish family images from the 1900s decade. We think this may in part a reflection rgat photography was complicated. Kodak intrioduced the Brownie in America (1990). his greatly simplified taking photograohs. It took a little time for this to filter through to other countries, especially more isolated countries like Finlamd. We don't think a lot of Finns suddenly acquired cameras and began taking snapshots. But the new technologu made it easier for itenerant photographers to operate.
We suddenly see Finnish family portraits in the 1910s. We are not sure just why this was the case Our archive is still fairly small, so we are not sure this reflects a major change in the photograpic record, but it may. Finland is a country with vast firrests. We mostly see woodden houses. Many of these images look like the work of intenerant photographers, because of the ways the families are posed. Readers may have some thoughts posed. We see a lot of large families. They seem to be mostly summer photographs. Only a few boys wear suits. The boys wear a varierty of tops. They look like plain shirts and collar buttoning jackets. Notice what looks like a "T"-shirt here (fiure 1). The boys wear what look like short pants. They do not seen to be knee pants, but many are quite long, especially for the older boys. We see alot of boys with suspenders. We see a few sailor suits. Interestingly we do not see the Russian tunics originsted ass serg clothing, They were still common in Russia and were the basis for the tunics/Russian blouse suits popular in America at the time. Most of the boys are barefoot during the summer, but would be wearing shoes and long stockings when the weather gets colder. The girls wear plain dresses and also go barefoot. We see some sailor dreses. The boys have close-cropped hair. Many girls wear pig tails.
Finland became iundependent at the end of World War I and the beginning of the Russian Revolution (1917). Thus we see Finnish children moving away from Russian fashions and more toward Scandinavian and German fashions. We no longer see Russian peasant tunics as were common in the early-20th centuyry. We see quite a few boys wearing sailor suits especially when dressing up. We also see boys wearing long short pants held up by suspenders. The styles are very similar to Germany abnd Scabdinavia except that Finland adfter several centuries of Russian rule was not as prosperous. The country was still quite rural and many available images show farm families. Thus the children are often not dresses very fashionably. Many children are barefoot.
We note the five Finnish siblings--the Jokinen children. They were the children of Väinö and Hilma Jokinen. They live near Keuruu, a town about 270 km north of Helsinki. The photo is undated, but looks like the early 30s. Notice the birch trees in the background, very common in northern forests. The boys are dressed identically. All the chikdren are barefoot.
The Kupiaisen family lived in Karelia. This was the province of Finland just north of Leningrad. Note the tunic that one boy is wearing. The younger boy is wearing a play pinafore similar to those commonly worn in Germany. The Kupiaisens had their photo taken in 1930 with their bicycle. We suspect that it was their proudest possession. This looks like a portrat made by an intenerate photographer. The Soviets invaded Filmand and seized most of Karelia in the World War II Winter War (1939-40). Virtually the entire population of Karelia left their homes and farms rather than live under Soviet rule. At a time that many American leftists were lionizing Stalin and the triumphs of Socialism, the Finns were under no illusion about the nature of Soviet rule.
We see a Harja family gathering during the 1930s. The photo was taken in Southern Ostrobothnia region of Finland. The two boys are wearing clothing made with the same cloth. The older one has a suit that he is wearing with black shoes and long stockings. The younger brother has a sailor suit that he wears in his bare feet. The girls wear dresses.
This Finnish family is unidentified. They lived in the small village of Vehkaoja, we tink in the 1940s. during 1940s. One boy wears knickers, the other seems to be wearing very long short pants with suspenders. Both boys are barefoot. The boys look to be about 6-8 years old. Tey seem to have different ideas aboutbeing photographed. Their big sister weairs a prit dress. She looks to be about 11 years old. She wears what look like sandals, probably because she is a little older.
Finland was devestated by the Sioviet Wuinter War invasiion and World War II. It lost territory, and had to submit to Findlandizatiion, but somehow this permitted a narrow sopace that the country, unlike the rest of Eastern Europe could retain democrativ institutions and a capitalist economy. Substantial trade relatiins with the West were allowed and the country could thus benefit from the Western European Economic Miracles. The country began building a prosperous modern economy. Stalin thougt that Socialism was a superior economic system which would draw the country into the Soviet orbit. Of coursev it was not and Finland gradually moved into the successful Western econmic sphere. We see that in the clothes children were wearing which begin to look more and more like Western styles.
This family snapshot shows Anni and Erkki Matila with their 10 children in front of their house. The photo was taken in the village of Oijärven during 1955. There are three girls and seven boys. The boys mostly wear "T"shirts. The older boys (and the father) have these rugby-style (collar shirts that are partially open at the front) shirts. Rather than Brirish rugby shirts with stripes and buttons, thedse are solid colored shirts which have string ties. We are not sure what they were called in Finland. The boys at the front have short pants, the yougest has H-bar shorts. The boys at the back wear both short and long pants, but we can't tell which ones. All the girls wear dresses, ome with a pinafore. They look to be a farm family. Here we can begin to see the fashion difference between rural and urban families disappearing. Also notice how the clse-cropped hair cuts have disappeared and the boys all have full heads of hair.
The Huusko family lived in in southern Finland. We can't tell much bout the family. We would guess that they are a farm family, but we are not sure. Here the one boy going barefoot is a clue. The other boy seems to be wearing sneakers. Both boys wear long pants which were becoming more popular throughout Europe. Notice the birch tree, a tree almost synomamous with Finland. The snap shot is undated, but was probably taken in the late-1950s. Finland at ghe time was making enormous economic progress. This family looks much more prosperous than family photographs taken before World War II. And family photographs in subsequent decaded show a steadsily increasing prosperity.
In Finland it is quite common to take off shoes entering in the house, as we can see in the photo showing a grandmother with her five grandchildren. The children are barefoot. Notice the shoes at the door. Grandmother wears socks. Notice the hard wood floors. The children all wear the same pan-European fashions now common throughout Europe.
This family snapshot shows a Finnish family during their summer vacation in Nilsiä, a municipality in Eastern Finland. Notice the casual styled clothing that the children are wearing, including the American baseball caps. Of course Dinnish children do not play baseball, but there are no soccer caps. It used to be possible to identify where children were from by their clothes. Children in the 21st century essentuially dressed alike throughout Europe, a kind of pan-European fashion that began to develop in the 1980s.
Notkola, Veijo and Markku Ryynänen . "Suomen väestö: Suomen väestö: Väestönkehityksen ennustaminen ja tuleva." Ed. Seppo Koskinen, Tuija Martelin et. al. (Hämeenlinna: Karisto Oy, 1994).
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[The 1880s]
[The 1890s]
[The 1900s]
[The 1910s]
[The 1920s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1950s]
[The 1960s]
[The 1970s]
[The 1980s]
Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Long pants suits]
[Knicker suits]
[Short pants suits]
[Socks]
[Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers]
[Blazer]
[School sandals]
[School smocks]
[Sailor suits]
[Pinafores]
[Long stockings]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Page
[Return to the Main Finnish page]
[Return to the Main family country page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
