Frank Eld spent 50 years creating a museum to bring the bypassed town of Roseberry, Idaho back to life; his love of old log buildings, in particular, led to the research behind his book Finnish Log Construction — The Art (2013). The grandson of a Finnish carpenter, Eld is on a mission to document and preserve the buildings made by Finnish immigrants to the United States and Canada.
In his 90-minute program, titled Finnish Log Construction — The Art after his book, Frank, dressed in authentic Finnish attire, shared the lost art of this construction method with his LOY audiences through visuals, displays and hands-on woodworking demonstrations.
James Ford Cooper spent a long career in the U.S. Foreign Service, with two postings at the American Embassy in Helsinki during the Cold War: from 1976-79 as Political Counselor and 1984-86 as Deputy Chief of Mission. His memoir of his life and work in Finland, On The Finland Watch (1999), is based on those years of observation and analysis.
In his 60-minute presentation, “Finland and the Cold War,” Ford discussed the different perspectives and geopolitical and historical factors that informed the manners in which Finland and the U.S. related to the 45-year period from the end of World War II to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Click here for an essay by Ford Cooper: “An Appreciation of Finland—On 100 Years of Independence.”
