Developed but close to nature: the image of Finland in the National Geographic Magazine from the 1900s to the 2010s

Figures & data

Table 1. National image of Finland in the National Geographic Magazine 1905–2013 (N = 37)

Period	Objectifications	Anchorings	Theme
1905–1917	Folk types; urban Helsinki, the Lutheran church	Finland as a part of Russia; Russian diversity; Finns as different from Russians	Finland as a part of the diverse Russian Empire
1910–1954	Helsinki; University; urban architecture; women; Lutheran churches; folk costumes; rural interiors; Saami people	Development; high education; democracy; gender equality; Christianity; originality; long history; exoticism	Finland as a progressive but traditional European nation
1940–1989	Men and women defending the country; working people; industry and entrepreneurs; urban architecture and design;	Gender equality; defending Western values and heritage; a single-minded nation; the market economy; development; freedom; (=in contrast to the Soviet Union)	Finland as the opposite to the Soviet Union
2002–2013	Landscapes; wild nature; wildlife; the absence of humans	Environmental concerns; recovering nature; exoticism	Finland as a country of wild nature

Image 1. ‘Finnish Girl’ ‘Russian Sisters’. No photographer information (A2, 321).

Image 2. ‘The Railway station at Helsingfors (…) signifies the republic’s faith in its future development.’ Photograph: Legation of Finland (A8, 612).

Image 3. ‘Evening hours in a Finnish farmhouse – reading, weaving and knitting to the minor tones of the “kantele”’. Photograph: Aarne Pietinen/Suomen-Matkat. (A11, 528).

Image 4. ‘Lit up for a spring night (…) this free world city shines in the shadow of Communist-ruled Baltic states’. Photograph: George F. Mobley (A21, 600–601).

Image 5. ‘Oulanka [Park] helps preserve this type of wetland, which is slowly being destroyed elsewhere in Scandinavia’. Photograph: Peter Essick (A29, 68–69).

Analyzed articles in the National Geography Magazine 1905–2013 (N = 37). References from the electronic archive of the National Geographic Magazine

Issue/Year	Title	Author(s)	Number of photographs/images*	Code
July 1905	Evolution of Russian Government	Grosvenor, Edwin Augustus	1	A1
May 1907	Some of Our Immigrants	Grosvenor, Gilbert Hovey	2	A2
June 1910	Where Women Vote	Korff, Alletta	0	A3
November 1914	Young Russia: The Land of Unlimited Possibilities.	Grosvenor, Gilbert Hovey, et al.	2	A4
February 1917	Our Foreign-Born Citizens	Grosvenor, Gilbert Hovey	2	A5
July 1917	Russia’s Man of the Hour: Alexander Kerensky’s First Speeches and Proclamations	-	1	A6
February 1921	The New Map of Europe: Showing the Boundaries Established by the Peace Conference at Paris and by Subsequent Decisions of the Supreme Council of the Allied and Associated Powers	Graves, Ralph A.	1	A7
May 1925	Helsingfors – A Contrast in Light and Shade	Glassey, Frank P. S.	20	A8
January 1935	Where the Sailing Ship Survives	Villiers, Alan	32	A9
June 1938	Flying Around the Baltic	Chandler, Douglas	1	A10
October 1938	The Farthest-North Republic: Olympic Games and Arctic Flying Bring Sequestered Finland into New Focus of World Attention	Kostich, Konstantin J. & Olson, Alma Luise	38	A11
June 1939	Looking Down on Europe Again: Crisscrossing Air Tracks Reveal Nature’s Scenic Reveal Nature’s Scenic Masterpieces and Man’s Swift-changing Boundaries and Structures	Van Zandt, J. Parker	2	A12
November 1939	The Nomads of Arctic Lapland: Mysterious Little People of a Land of the Midnight Sun Live Off the Country Above the Arctic Circle	Kuhne, Jack & Fisher, Clyde	41	A13
February 1940	Flashes from Finland	-	19	A14
August 1947	Scenes of Postwar Finland	Bradley, La Verne	30	A15
August 1948	Norway Cracks Her Mountain Shell	Sydney Clark	2	A16
November 1950	Baltic Cruise of the [Caribbee].	Mitchell, Carleton	7	A17
August 1954	North With Finland’s Lapps: Big in Heart and Hospitality Are the Little People of Lapland – and a Taxi Will Take You to an Arm of the Arctic Ocean	Shor, Franc & Shor, Jean	39	A18
September 1961	Flags of the United Nations	-	1	A19
February 1964	Friendly Flight to Northern Europe	Johnson, Lyndon B. & Wentzel, Volkmar	9	A20
May 1968	Finland: Plucky Neighbor of Soviet Russia	Mobley, George F. & Graves, William	47	A21
August 1981	Helsinki: City With Its Heart in the Country	Vesilind, Priit J. & Cobb, Jodi	24	A22
February 1983	Hunters of the Lost Spirit	Brimberg, Sisse, et al.	0	A23
May 1989	The Baltic: Arena of Power	Vesilind, Priit J. & Coulson, Cotton	5	A24
February 1992	Alcohol, the Legal Drug	Steinmetz, George, & Gibbons, Boyd	2	A25
June 2002	Beasts of the Boreal: Wolverines	O’Neill, Tom & Leinonen, Antti	8	A26
June 2002	The Great Northern Forest	Essick, Peter & Montaigne, Fen	2	A27
November 2007	Finland	-	1	A28
June 2009	Northern Light: Finland Park	Essick, Peter & Klinkenborg, Verlyn	11	A29
May 2010	Europe’s Wild Wonders	Belt, Don	3	A30
December 2020	Whooper Swans	Newman, Cathy & Unterthiner, Stefano	10	A31
May 2011	Finland	-	1	A32
November 2011	Sami: The People Who Walk With Reindeer	Benko, Jessica & Larsen, Erika		A33
October 2012	Wild Squatters in Finland	Butler, Carolyn & Fagerström, Kai	8	A34
April 2013	Finland	-	1	A35
July 2013	Your Shot	-	1	A36
October 2013	Your Shot	-	1	A37

*Only photographs and other images depicting Finland in the articles were counted.