Anyone can donate oral history to the Commission of Finnish Labour Tradition. The donated material may be an autobiographical memoir, a recording or a transcription of an oral history interview, for example. The donated material is preserved for research use in the Finnish Labour Archives as part of the collection of the Commission of Finnish Labour Tradition.

The themes collected by the committee include the labour movement and labour tradition, trade union movement, working life and its changes, the Social Democratic Party of Finland, organisational activities, activism, sexual and gender minorities, as well as persons operated and events organised within the aforementioned framework.

HOW TO RECORD YOUR MEMORIES?

Once you have decided what you want to share, write freely in your own voice. You can look back at a single, memorable event or write a more extensive autobiographical memoir. Telling about your own background and personal history improves the usability of the memoir. You can also record your memoir as an audio file. We are also happy to receive oral history interviews.

If you are planning to conduct oral history interviews, you should first read, for example, the guide on conducting oral history interviews published by the The Finnish Society for Labour History (in Finnish). (Anne Heimo, Tuula Juvonen and Heidi Kurvinen: Opas muistitietohaastattelun tekemiseen, THPTS, Helsinki 2021.)

If you are planning to carry out a larger oral history project and handing over the interviews to us, please contact us before starting the project.

DONATING MATERIALS

Individual memoirs can be sent either by letter or by email as a text file in RTF or Word format. Audio recordings are accepted in both analog and digital formats (mp3 or WAV). If you write or print on paper, please leave a few centimetres of space on the left edge of the paper so that the material can be bound.

It is recommended to provide some background information on both the person collecting the oral history as well as the narrator (e.g. place and time of birth). Please also include your contact details so that we can send you the donation agreement to sign.

If you are planning on donating autobiographical manuscripts, audio recordings, photographs or a larger amount of material, please contact us in advance to ensure a successful handover.

Please also make sure that you have the right to donate the material.

You can submit the material either
- by email by contacting pete.pesonen@tyark.fi
- or by post to the following address: Työväen muistitietotoimikunta, Sörnäisten rantatie 25 A, 00500 Helsinki, Finland.

DONATION AGREEMENT

A donation agreement is made upon the handover of the material. With the agreement, the ownership of the material is transferred to the Finnish Labour Archives. The rights of use of the material are also agreed upon with the agreement.

For further information, please contact:
Pete Pesonen, Senior Archivist
tel. +358 40 455 3198
pete.pesonen@tyark.fi