During the year 2018 Hailuoto-seura (Hailuoto Association) carried out a photograph collecting and publishing project, which was supported by Museovirasto (The Museum Bureau), Hailuoto Commune and Nouseva Rannikkoseutu Accociation. The project was called The Islands Century in Photographs and it was about collecting, digitalizing ja publishing photographs and information about Haluoto´s history during all the decades of the 1900s. Oldest photographs are from 1800s. The old photos visualize the mostly disappeared landscapes, lifestyles and local history. The old photosgraphs of the inhabitants of Hailuoto had not been system collected, classified and assembled earlier so that everybody who has interest in Hailuoto and the history of the island would be able to see them.
The project workers Vesa Vainionpää and Susanna Rapinoja collected photographs from June to December on every Thyesday evening. 42 people brought altogether about 750 photographs about Hailuoto. Photos were digitalized during the sessions and the informaiton about them was gathered at the same time. Photos visualize for example the tradioitonal sources of livelihood (sleep and cow livestock, farming, fishing, collecting lichen and other natural ingredients), free time activities, hobbies, tradiotionad handicrfts, forms of transport (for excample Hailuoto-ship, ferries, vehicles), schools and education, old buldings, fishing villages and harbours (Marjaniemi, Huikku, Ulkokarvo (Petsamo), Sunikari and Pöllä).
The project workers got to se unbelieveably beatiful and unique old photo albums, and now everybody who is interested in Hailuoto history is able to watch the treasures which were digitalized during the project and afterwards, as a result of it.
The framework of Hailuoto Topothek are the photos which were collected durig the project. The digitalizing and collecting new photos and additional information about already published photos is still going on, so if you have old photographs which are connected to Hailuoto or additional information about already published photos, please contact Hailuoto-seura !
Susanna Rapinoja
Vesa Vainionpää