The Italian Hall Tragedy

Among the various projects I’m working on, I am very excited about one that just kind of fell together. My great-grandfather was named Eelu Kiviranta and he wrote poetry. He was a Finn who lived near Nisula (there is a road there called Kiviranta Rd) and owned his own printing press. He wrote his poetry, set it in type, printed the booklets, and then rode around the area on his bicycle selling the poetry booklets.

My mother — Eelu’s grand-daughter — has been collecting his poetry all of her life. Some of his poetry can be found in local archives but the largest collection of the poetry BY FAR is the collection my mother has amassed. I am going to get the poems translated (they are all in Finnish), write an intro and biography of Eelu, and get as much of his poetry into print as I can.

He wrote about everything: life in Finland, life in the US, current events, humor, politics, you name it. He was also quite a character, and many people in the Copper Country have heard of him. Until now, though, his poetry was not widely available.

I’ll admit that one of the reasons I want to get this project done is that a book came out recently that mentions Eelu’s poetry. In the book, his name is badly misspelled and the translation of the poem (they published one poem) was not a good one. To do him justice, I’m going to see that the translations get done properly.

Stay tuned. I’ll add more detail as I learn it.

Steve

I apologize: I have not been updating this site all that much lately. There were several reasons (“excuses!”) for this, among them: My Douglass Houghton book has just come out. Also, for a week or two I could not access this site. I though the entire site was down. Not sure what was happening there.

However, I feel the need to address a couple of things. Some people have pointed out to me that there is a movement among some (a very small number, clearly) writers of history to make the argument that there either was no cry of Fire at the Italian Hall, or that if there was, we could never prove it.

It’s an odd argument to make. There was overwhelming evidence that there WAS a cry of Fire. What we don’t know is WHO cried Fire or WHY.  Kind of like the Kennedy Assassination: Argue all you want about who shot the man; don’t deny that he was shot. Or the Titanic: How many of the survivors actually saw the iceberg the boat hit? Does anyone want to argue there was no iceberg?

I think these revisionist historians (and that’s what they are — the cry of Fire was one of the things that has been consistently correct all these years) simply want to make the issue of what we don’t know (who cried Fire) to encompass the whole story. Why? I don’t know. That’s not history. Trying to figure out why “historians” ignore facts and solid research is a question for psychologists.

Steve

As Christmas approaches, I am reminded once again that the anniversary of the Italian Hall disaster is coming up as well. I read an article in the Daily Mining Gazette recently that they are planning a ceremony this year, and someone has made votives — the candle holder/shelters — so that if you go by there on Christmas Eve, there will be 73 lights, to remember the victims.  It sounds beautiful.

Steve

I will be speaking at the North American Labor History Conference at Wayne State on FRI, Oct 17.

http://nalhc.wayne.edu/NALHC/Program.html

Steve

Sorry about the lack of updates here . . . I’ve been terribly busy putting the finishing touches on my next project: a Biography of Douglass Houghton. The manuscript is done and I am just making the minor corrections that always come up right before a book is done.

On the Italian Hall front, I will be speaking at Finn Fest in Duluth on July 26, and to the Eagle Harbor book club the next day: http://www.eagleharborbookgroup.org/

Stay tuned for more.

Steve

I’ll be speaking on THURS, May 1 in Coopersville.  Checck it out here:
http://www.coopersville.com/museum/events.htm

Steve

I will be speaking at the Portage Lake District Library in Houghton on April 25 at 7:00 p.m.  I will bring my powerpoint presentation with me.  If you are in the copper country that evening, stop by.
www.pldl.org
Also, the next day is one of the meetings of the planning committee for the centennial of the strike year (1913 -2013).  I plan on going to that and since the timing is so good (I’m at the library the night before the planning meeting) I would invite anyone with ideas about how to commemorate the strike or the Italian Hall to stop by the library and pass them along.

Steve

I received a very nice online review after my talk in Royal Oak.  Check it out here:
http://www.versagivoice.com/RO_news_politics.htm/library_programs.htm

I will be speaking at the Royak Oak Public Library the evening of February 27.
http://www.ropl.org/
Click there for details, time, location etc.  I will be giving my power point presentation and also signing books etc.

Steve