Document Archive

On September 28, 2022, the Ebeneser foundation entrusted Kindergarten Museum document archive to the Työväen Arkisto (The Labour Archives) in Sörnäinen, Helsinki.

The foundation's document archive contains material related to over 130-year history of kindergarten activities, kindergarten teacher education and the historical formation of early childhood education, especially in Helsinki. The primary purpose of the transfer is to secure the preservation of unique and comprehensive material, for which a professionally managed archive has better opportunities, facilities, resources, and skills. Additionally, the Labour Archives has excellent research services that everyone can access, which guarantees better accessibility to the material. While the museum organizes the archive material for the transfer, there will be a short hiatus. After the transfer, one can access the archive material within the framework of the researcher services of the Labour Archives.

The Kindergarten Museum's object, photo and library collections will remain in the museum's ownership as before, and the resources freed from archive work will be used to work with these collections. As a professional museum, the Kindergarten Museum will continue to happily help researchers and others interested in the history of early childhood education and, if necessary, guide them to the right resources, whether it is in the museum's collections or as part of the diverse materials of the Labour Archive.

The Kindergarten Museum and the Labour Archive will continue the cooperation that has already started. The digitization of the material and better accessibility is also in the interests of both parties. The museum and the archive locations are only a stone's throw away from each other, so the cooperation is seamless in this respect. Additionally, the Kindergarten Museum and the Labour Archive belong to the same Akseli consortium, which includes museums and archives that use the same collection management system and cooperate closely in matters related to collection work.

Contact information:
The Kindergarten Museum / Museum Director Taina Sillanpää, taina.sillanpaa(at)ebeneser.fi / 050 307 0705
The Labour Archive / Archive Director Petri Tanskanen, petri.tanskanen(at)tyark.fi / 040 455 6976

Background of the archival material

The earliest archival material in the Ebeneser foundation's archive dates from the 1880s, when Hanna Rothman founded Finland's first kindergarten, the Helsinki Froebel institution, in Helsinki. Financially, the kindergarten work was initially private and supported by donations. The Froebel institution in Helsinki, which started its operations in 1888, received a grant from the profits of the Helsinki brewery companies. Administratively, private kindergarten work was initially an activity under the board of education established in 1899. Formally, they were subordinate to the public education department of the higher school board (from 1918 onwards the school board). The Ministry of Social Affairs confirmed the governing rules for kindergartens in Helsinki in 1930, when folk kindergartens were replaced by kindergartens, after which most kindergartens became municipalized. However, the private children's institutions in the Ebeneser House transferred to the ownership of the city of Helsinki only in 1963.

Early childhood education activities ended in Ebeneser House in 1986 after the last group of children moved to other facilities. After that, the building functioned as an education institution for kindergarten teachers until 1993. In 2018, the Ebeneser ECEC center of Helsinki started operations again on the 1st floor of the Ebeneser building. The Kindergarten Museum cooperates with the Ebeneser ECEC center, for example, concerning contemporary documentation. Following a separate plan, the museum collects and stores documents related to the activities of the Ebeneser ECEC center.

The archive material of the Ebeneser foundation mainly consists of materials from the Ebeneser kindergarten and kindergarten seminar, but there is also some material from elsewhere. The creators of the archive include, among others, the Froebel institute of Helsinki, Sörnäinen folk kindergarten, Oma koti Sörnäisten kansanlastentarhalle -association and the foundation called Hanna Rothmanin ja Elisabeth Alanderin laitokset (later the Ebeneser foundation), which is also called Ebeneser home. Ebeneser House’s operations include both kindergarten activities and kindergarten teacher education. The financial administration has a separate archive from the early years to the present day.

The personal archives have comprehensive materials on the pioneers of kindergarten work, Hanna Rothman and Elisabeth Alander, and the private archive of Elsa Borenius as a separate collection. Elsa Borenius worked, among other things, as an inspector of kindergartens in Helsinki in the 1930s and 40s and as a driving force in the professional organization of kindergarten teachers. There are also private collections of numerous long-career kindergarten teachers and directors from different eras.

The most important events related to the creation of the Ebeneser foundation's archives are the transition of the Ebeneser kindergarten to being maintained by the city in 1963 and the nationalization of kindergarten teacher training in 1977. Most of the material is from the time before these turning points.

Kindergarten teacher education began in the Sörnäinen kindergarten in 1892 and moved to the Ebeneser House in 1908. Kindergarten teacher education did expand in 1947. Kindergarten teachers established the Jyväskylä branch of the Ebeneser home's kindergarten seminar in Jyväskylä. The Swedish-language kindergarten teacher seminar moved to Pietarsaari in 1958. From the 1950s, kindergarten teachers established teacher seminars also in other cities.

In 1977, all private kindergarten teacher education institutions were nationalized and turned into Kindergarten teacher academies. The Helsinki Kindergarten teacher's academy operated in Ebeneser between 1977 and 1993. Since 1995, universities have overseen kindergarten teacher education. The archive contains material on the teaching content of kindergarten teacher education and students' and teachers' lecture notes from the early days of the training until the 1990s.

The Kindergarten Museum also has material classified as archival material in its collection, such as craft folders made by kindergarten teacher students and other material related to the teaching of handcrafts.

Memory data

We constantly collect memory data related to the operations of the Ebeneser House. One can share memories online or on-site at the Kindergarten Museum, either in written form or orally. We collect memory data from former Ebeneser kindergarten children, students, teachers, and anyone who has memories related to the Ebeneser House. These memories form a collection, and the material is available to researchers. The Kindergarten Museum continues to collect oral history data and stores the material as part of the memory archive of the Labour Archive.

Based on memory information, one can get a broader picture of what kind of events have happened in Ebeneser over the years and how individuals have experienced them. Using the same principle, the museum collects memory data related to other kindergartens and ECEC centers. Individuals who share their memories have the right to prohibit the use of their name and personal information in connection with the memories.

Do you have memories related to Ebeneser? Were you in Ebeneser Kindergarten as a child? Did you study to be a kindergarten teacher at Ebeneser? Or have you worked as a teacher or in another role at Ebeneser? What is your relationship to the Ebeneser House? Share your memory with us! We are interested in any possible memory related to Ebeneser, whether it is about something big or small. Contact ebeneser(at)ebeneser.fi. You can also submit your memory online by clicking here: Do you remember Ebeneser (Muistatko Ebeneserin)?