The Museum of the Home Mission Society

The Museum of the Home Mission Society is located on the campus of The Church Training College near downtown Pieksämäki. The oldest parts of the colleges (the main building, the buildings of the former children’s home and retirement centre and the hospital) were built at the beginning of the 1950s to meet the needs of the society, which had moved from Sortavala to Pieksämäki. Nowadays, the museum is owned by the Church Resources Agency and has received remodelled facilities in the main building of the college in 2007. The museum manager takes care of the museum’s guidance and opening hours, together with the former and current employees.

Volunteers were responsible for establishing the Museum of the Home Mission Society and gathering the collections. Lecturer Katri Kuittinen and the museum committee that supported her gathered and recorded the furniture, items, books and photographs found at the college and the Koivuranta service centre. In addition, many of the former nursing students and employees donated items that had to the museum. More than 500 items were added to the collections and the museum was opened to the public in 1989.

The museum’s permanent exhibition talks about the history of the colleges of the Home Mission Society and teaching activities there. Artefacts related to the Church’s social work and training — nursing, the work the deaconesses do, social welfare for children, the elderly and the disabled, substance abuse rehabilitation — are on display. For example, various work and student uniforms and books from several decades are on display.