Work People's College (Duluth, Minn.)

In 1903, leaders of the Finnish National Lutheran Church of America opened the Finnish People's College and Theological Seminary (Suomalainen Kansan Opisto ja Teologinen Seminaari) in Minneapolis, Minnesota to provide training for clergy and a liberal education for Finnish Americans in general. The college in Minneapolis soon failed and was moved to the Duluth suburb of Smithville, Minnesota where more Finnish Americans had settled. Finnish American Socialists were strong supporters of the school and by 1908 had gained control of it. It was renamed the Work People's College (Työväen Opisto) and religion was dropped from the curriculum. During the next few years, the school was the pride of the Finnish Socialist Federation but when the Federation split in 1914 over the issue of industrial unionism, the Work People's College became a school for the Industrial Worker's of the World; it continued so until it ceased holding classes in 1940.

From the guide to the Work People's College records, 1904-1962, (University of Minnesota Libraries. Immigration History Research Center [ihrc])

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