Mirkka Lappalainen, PhD, has been granted many awards for her research on the historical period of Swedish rule over Finland. Her most recent work, Pohjolan Leijona Kustaa II Aadolf ja Suomi 1611–1632 (‘The Lion of the North – Gustav II Adolf and Finland 1611–1632’) received the Finlandia prize for nonfiction in 2014 and the Vuoden Tiedekirja (‘Science Book of the Year’) award in January 2015. Although her research has been groundbreaking, she became a historian by chance.

Mirkka Lappalainen’s conception of history changed during her first year of study, when she heard that instead of being ready-written, history could still be studied and that many things were controversial.

– It came as a surprise to me that there were plenty of interpretations of history that could be disagreed on. Many of these things are specifically related to the beginning of the modern era. This sparked my interest in researching the period of Swedish rule more deeply.

At the beginning of their studies, history students already have the opportunity to become acquainted with material that is yet to be researched by anybody else.

– It was thrilling to learn to read old winding handwriting, a skill I needed for deciphering the contents of old documents. Already getting my hands on real research material at the BA level made me feel that I was really doing something meaningful.

However, Mirkka Lappainen became a historian by chance. She was part of the editorial staff of a student organization magazine and learned to use desktop publishing software, which was still a special skill at the end of the 1990s. Professor of Finnish and Scandinavian History Heikki Ylikangas needed an assistant for a research project who was able to read old handwriting as well as edit and lay out books. Through Ylikangas’s project, Mirkka Lappalainen had the opportunity to see the real nature of historical research.

– That’s when I got the feeling that this was what I wanted to do in the future. I got to meet older scholars and make contacts with historians who researched the modern era. When I was working on my doctoral dissertation, it was natural to continue this collaboration and dialogue.

When you get your hands on 17th century material and see the trace of the past with your own eyes, the feeling is exhilarating.

When talking about historians, people tend to say that the most important thing is to have strong sitting muscles and a personality that suits working in grey archive chambers. For Lappalainen, the joy of research is found in source material from the 16th and 17th centuries.

– In Finland, most of my data are on microfilm form or printed text, but in Swedish archives you can see original material. When you get your hands on 17th century material and see the trace of the past with your own eyes, the feeling is exhilarating. The feel, smell, weight, colour of the ink and markings on the paper all create an entirely different connection to the past from digitised or printed material.

Ideas for new research are born and fade continuously in Lappalainen’s mind. When she was studying the Great Famine of 1695–1697, she became interested in climate history, especially in the relationship between people and climate. Currently, she is developing ideas for a new study on the climate change which occurred after the Little Ice Age.

– I took part in a symposium called Climate Change and Global Crisis in the Seventeenth Century in Germany in the spring of 2014. The conference was centred on the climate crisis during the Little Ice Age in the 1690s. Both natural scientists and historians participated, highlighting the importance of multidisciplinary cooperation.

Data obtained from scientific research is very different from historical research material.

– Neither material is sufficient by itself to illustrate the relationship between people and the climate, and especially not people’s adaptation to climate change. It is a topic that calls for multidisciplinary work, emphasises Lappalainen.