Abstracts 2008

The life of ’Hanasaari A’ power plant and its employees in 1957–2007

Maija Kärki

The Hanasaari A power plant in Helsinki was built at the end of the 1950s. Since then the plant was in intensive use, till the beginning of 21st century, when it was turned into a standby plant and a “culture factory”. The article describes the work at the power plant at different times, and also brings forward those fundamental changes the plant has gone through during its lifetime. The article is based on a documentation project started by Helsinki Energy after the Helsinki City Council had affirmed the resolution to dismantle the power plant in December 2006. Around 50 present and former employees were interviewed as wells as some representatives of Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, City Planning Department, and the City Council.
The article uses micro-historical approach where the perspective derives from individual experiences and life stories.

Margarine from Hangö

Yngve Malmén

A hundred years ago, the port city of Hangö (Finn. Hanko) was well known for its production and exportation of butter. For example, the headquarters of Valio dairy company was located in Hangö from 1905 till the First World War. Hangö has also played an important role in the early production of margarine in Finland. The article sheds light on the political resistance that was encountered by the first Hangö-based companies with their plans to start margarine production. The article analyzes also production processes, the end products and their ingredients, and how they were advertised. During the Second World War the city of Hangö had to be evacuated, which was fatal to the city’s margarine industry.

Ridicule and Politics: Uppsala Student Carnivals in the 1840s

Johan Sjöberg

From the late eighteenth century onwards, new conceptions on youth and its political role spread throughout Western Europe, and during the nineteenth century university students began to take on the role of political opinion formers. The phenomenon of students participating in politics challenged the traditional patriarchal view of the social role appropriate for young people. In the student carnivals in Uppsala, politics was not isolated from the rest of the student’s self-image, and the boundaries between the everyday, the ridiculous and the political were not always very sharply drawn. The student carnivals in Uppsala give us a unique opportunity to see how the different ideals of studenthood coexisted.

University and cultural heritage: The case of the patriotic songs

Hanna Enefalk

In the beginning of the nineteenth century a new phenomenon appeared in Europe: the patriotic male choir. In the Nordic countries it had a musical – and political – impact we can hardly fathom today, and it was an impact that emanated from the universities. In this article, Norwegian and Swedish speaking patriotic students’ choirs are examined. Initially, the impulses, the founding, and the leading men of the movement are mapped. It is described, furthermore, how the patriotic students’ singing turned into a distinctive musical practice, encompassing Scandinavian students’ meetings, concert tours (sångarfärder), and, in Sweden, festivities in honour of the monarchy. Attention is given, too, to the changing of the students’ singing over time. The initial singing in male, fourpart choirs gradually became a semi-professional activity, while the average student turned to the less demanding unison song. Emphasis is put upon the political significance of the patriotic songs. They reflect a number of issues, among them the rising of the middle classes and the emergence of a separate Finnish- Swedish patriotism. In short, the article describes how the universities created what would become a part of the cultural heritage of the nation, and examines the ideological values that were connected to this heritage.
The article is an excerpt from Hanna Enefalk’s forthcoming dissertation with the preliminary title Singing Nationalism. A question of gender ("Att sjunga nationalism. En fråga om genus").

"If only we had a railway!" The role of the Finnish railway network in the nation’s technological progress as seen by Ernst Gustaf Palmén

Tiina Päivärinne

The idea of technological progress and its inevitability was very much reflected in the Finnish popular enlightenment literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Most of this literature was written by educated, Finnish-minded (Fennoman) politically and culturally active persons, members of the national elite, such as professor Ernst Gustaf Palmén. Palmén emphasised the significance of railway technology and of an efficient railway network in bringing technological and cultural progress to different parts of the fatherland.
In his writings Palmén showed how technological innovations played an important role in a nation’s cultural and national progress, and how both technology and culture were the key factors in a nation’s way to an economically and politically better future.

The civil engineers of the Helsinki University of Technology and its predecessors in 1861–2007

Jutta Julkunen

The article concentrates on the students of civil engineering at the Helsinki University of Technology and its predecessors in 1861–2007. The emphasis is on the factors that have affected changes in the number of students, graduates and post-graduates, as well as changes in the employment of graduated civil engineers. After the Second World War, the intake of students had to be raised radically, as there was an urgent demand of civil engineers. The civil engineers were mainly employed by the State and the public sector, but since the 1960s, the significance of the private sector has gradually increased.

Revolts on the Agenda! The Media effect of the Norwegian News Coverage of the Global Protests 1968

Rolf Werenskjold

This article focuses on how the media news coverage of the global revolt influenced the public agenda in Norway in 1968. The effects of the media’s agenda and role in forming a public opinion in Norway – in its view on the radicalization of youth, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and the student demonstrations – are discussed, based on a study of several opinion polls published by Norsk Gallup in 1968. The results indicate that the news coverage was substantial enough to attract public attention and that the media agenda was transferred to the public agenda. It is still impossible to document that the media was the only source to form public opinion. Through frames the media contributed with an important vocabulary that simplified the understanding of the revolt as phenomenon. The media was, however, not the only source influencing the public opinion, also other factors contributed.

Contested Spaces of Novelty and Heritage: Representing and building new universities in post-war Sweden and Britain

Henrik Widmark

Building a new university or a university college is to materialise ideas of higher education. It also forms spaces of heritage, novelty and education. Although these spaces are formed, and continually transformed, by international developments, they have their roots in the local circumstances. In this article British and Swedish post-war efforts are compared by concentrating on the University of East Anglia in Norwich and the University of Essex in Colchester, and on the Södertörn University College in Flemingsberg- Stockholm and Gotland University in Visby. The differences between the British and Swedish examples are vast, and the objective of the comparison is to single out features which explain the main issues of the forming of spaces of heritage and novelty in both university milieus. The article studies how the built milieu transforms space, and how university space is represented through the dialectics of novelty and heritage and of local place and international space.

Our world in transition: New challenges for university museums and their parent organisations

Steven W.G. de Clercq

For centuries, university museums served as custodians of the university’s scientific and historical heritage. Today however, these collections have ceased to play their pivotal role in academic research and teaching, due to developments in research and teaching-practices. Whilst maintaining their archival function as material evidence of the academic life, research and teaching, they no longer attract the best research or professors and students in the world.
University museums increasingly function on the triple point between the academic world, the museum world and society at large. As each of these worlds is confronted with an identity crisis, and university museums need to redefine their role and mission, this is the appropriate moment of exploring new grounds, where university museums can act as a two-way bridge between the academic world and its local and regional communities.
The article explores some of those possibilities, like the role of the university museum in identity marketing of its parent institution or in community development (public engagement with academic research, outreach, tourism, economic development, city development, etc.).

Shipping companies of Lake Näsijärvi and the increase of coach services in 1918–1939

Mikko Manka

The article studies passenger ship traffic of the Lake Näsijärvi area in relation to the development of coach traffic during the period between the world wars. The focal point is on how the shipping companies tried to make the most of the vigorous growth of coach traffic in their own business. Between the two world wars the Finnish traffic and transportation system went through one of its most important transitions, as the services were shifted more and more on wheels. At the same time, the importance of traditional vehicles diminished, and, for instance, regular passenger traffic on several inland waterways ended altogether. However, the Second World War stopped the rapid development of road traffic and thus gave extra time for the inland water traffic.

Car expertise courses for women in the 1970s

Riikka Jalonen

The number of cars was rapidly increasing in Finland in the 1960s and more and more often there was a woman behind the wheel. However, the discussion of women’s motoring in periodicals and magazines got still ardent tones at times. In the public discussion about motoring and cars, what seemed to distinguish the two sexes was the role of the car as a mechanical vehicle. Women were not considered to be interested in the technical properties of the car, let alone to be keen in opening the hood and making some adjustments or reparations. The situation seemed to change when in the turn of the 1960s and 70s car expertise courses started to be organized for women. All from the beginning, these courses gained large popularity.

Research of the history of technology in Finland

Timo Myllyntaus

In Finland, the history of technology has been the interest of very different scholars, whose topics of research have embraced mainly Finland and Finnish technology. The most important results within the history of technology have been achieved in cooperation and within the frame of different research groups. Internationalization of the Finnish history of technology really started in the 1990s, since when it has been progressing fast. Finnish research of the history of technology has been burdened by the lack of visibility and status. A great problem is the absence of institutionalization. On the other hand, this has encouraged versatility and search of new perspectives especially in the 2000s. Despite complex circumstances, vitality of the history of technology in today’s Finland is astonishing even on the international scale: for instance, the Finnish quarterly for the history of technology Tekniikan Waiheita is, in proportion to population, 20 times more popular than its American counterpart, Technology and Culture. In recent years, Finnish researchers have also participated very actively in international meetings.

The history of technology from the perspective of technical sciences: Development of water supply as an example

Tapio S. Katko

History and development of technology can be studied from different angles. This article is based on engineering sciences and community planning, but it contains also perspectives of the history of technology and futures studies. The article describes developments mainly on the water supply sector, but the same ideas are probably applicable for other fields of technological development. Studying, teaching, and understanding long term developments create foundations also for the understanding of future processes.

From a museums association into a learned society

Panu Nykänen

The Finnish Society for the History of Technology (THS) was founded in 1928 in order to promote the foundation of the museum of technology. The society's own history is thus part of the historical development of technical museums, industrial exhibitions, and science centres. During the 20th century, definitions of technology changed, and towards the end of the century, comprehension of the seamless union of technology and science started to prevail. In this context, THS changed from a museums association into a learned society specializing in the history of technology.