Laura Aho: Bringing a People’s Stories to Life at the Genealogical Society of Finland

Laura Aho is the publicist for the Genealogical Society of Finland, Suomen Sukututkimusseura (⁠www.genealogia.fi/en/⁠). The organization, founded in 1917, the year of Finland’s independence, is an education and memory institution that, as a scientific society, promotes Finnish family and personal history research and publishes its results. It is based in Helsinki, Finland, and provides extensive genealogical resources for researchers in Finland and around the world. For the society, Aho also publishes the organization’s Jalmari magazine, a digital magazine for society members published 11 times a year.* The magazine’s stories cover current issues and themes dealing with the society and the field of genealogy. Aho is also a PhD candidate at the University of Helsinki, majoring in Latin language and Roman literature. She speaks seven languages, including Finnish, and is the author of many articles in her fields of study and collaborator on research projects in her home country and Europe. *In February 2024, Jalmari included Rudy Owens’ personal story how I found my Finnish kin in Finland in the summer of 2023 and the larger story of Finnish immigration to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century.