"A Finnish immigrant family in front of their first shelter in which they lived and bathed while the house was being built. Later it was a sauna." Photograph and caption from the papers of University of Minnesota Duluth geographer Matti Kaups, who studied Finnish immigration in North America. The photograph
depicts the Aho family of Karvenkylä, north of Chisholm, Minnesota, around 1905. Courtesy of the Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota.
Text excerpts and photographs taken from The Opposite of Cold:
The Northwoods Finnish Sauna Tradition by Michael Nordskog, photography by Aaron W. Hautala.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press, 2010. Copyright 2010 by Michael Nordskog. Photographs copyright 2010 by Aaron W. Hautala.