Finland Pays its Debts and Gets Books in Return: ASLA Grants to the Finnish Academic Libraries, 1950-1967

This essay examines the political and historical context, implementation, and effects of the ASLA program and especially how it was used to fund the purchase of American books for Finnish academic libraries during the years 1950-67. In 1949 the U.S. Congress passed a law (P.L. 81-265) that transformed Finnish payments on the loans acquired from the United States after World War I into a fund. Out of the fund, grants for travel in the United States were given to Finnish researchers and specialists. Finnish institutions of higher education were given grants in order to acquire American scientific and scholarly books as well as technical equipment. In Finland the program is known according to its Finnish acronym: ASLA (Amerikan Suomen lainan apurahat, or Grants from Finland's American Loan). Today it is called the ASLA-Fulbright program. The essay describes the relation of the ASLA program to the United States, cultural diplomacy in general, and how the program influenced Finnish academic libraries. Sources include published congressional documents and Finnish archival sources, especially papers of the Helsinki University Library, its chief librarian, Lauri O. Th. Tudeer, and the Council (later Board) of Scientific Libraries.