Antti Kopra papers

Collection

Identifier: Coll 993

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of the papers of Antti Kopra, a Finnish American who lived in Portland, Oregon, during World War II. The bulk of these papers relate to his efforts to purchase property in Portland, and include correspondence and drafts of correspondence, handwritten notes, and hand-drawn maps of properties at NE Bryant Street and NE 27th Avenue and on N. Maryland Avenue. Other materials in the collection consist of a letter from the Oregon Unemployment Compensation Commission, telling Kopra that Portland had a surplus of qualified workers in his field and recommending he contact the Montana State Employment Service instead; and a copy of a letter from Kopra to the Portland District Council of Carpenters, saying that he could not come for a vote on June 25, 1944, because he was in Butte, Montana. Both of these items use the name Andrew Kopra instead of Antti Kopra.

Dates

1941-1944

Creator

Kopra, Antti, 1890-1968 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.

Biographical Note

Antti Kopra (also known as Andrew Kopra) was born in 1890 in Viipuri, Finland. In 1914, he and his wife, Ester Elisabeth Kopra, immigrated to the United States, where Antti Kopra studied at a seminary in Ironwood, Michigan, and then at Suomi College in Hancock, Michigan. In 1929, he was ordained as a minister by the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church. The family moved to Canada, where Kopra served at several parishes in Saskatchewan and Alberta. In 1936, the family moved to Butte, Montana, where Antti Kopra worked as a carpenter in the mines and served informally as a pastor for the local Finnish community.

During World War II, Kopra worked in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska in the defense industry. His son Leo Martin Kopra was stationed at the Vancouver Barracks in Washington at that time. Antti Kopra moved back to Butte after the war.

Antti Kopra and Ester Kopra had four children: Leo Martin Kopra (1918-1995), Weikko Antero Calervo Kopra (1920-1963), Lennart Lauri Kopra (1924-1968), and Siiri Esther Kopra (1925-2004). Antti Kopra died in 1968.

Sources: Information provided by Martha Kopra in 2002; obituary in the Montana Standard, October 18, 1968; vital and naturalization records on Ancestry.com.

Extent

0.1 Cubic Feet (1 folder in shared box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Papers of Antti Kopra (1890-1968), primarily relating to his attempts to purchase property in Portland, Oregon, during World War II. Kopra was a Finnish American who spent the majority of his adult life in Butte, Montana, but briefly lived in Portland during World War II.