Axel Olai Heikel graduated with a Master’s degree from the Imperial Alexander University in 1880. He studied archaeology, philosophy, aesthetics and literary history, but was also drawn to folklore studies. In 1876 he had a hand in setting up the Ylioppilasosakuntain kansatieteellistä museo, the student nations’ folklore museum. Upon graduating he continued with his folklore studies.

For his doctoral thesis, Heikel, encouraged by Matthias Castrén, along with other explorers made a number of ethnological research trips. Between 1883 and 1886 Heikel’s journeys took him to the Mari, Mordvin and Udmurt peoples in the Volga region, all speakers of Finno-Ugric languages. His thesis dealt with the building styles of the Finno-Ugric peoples and the development of Finnish construction methods. Rakennukset Teremisseillä, Mordvalaisilla, Virolaisilla ja Suomalaisilla (’The buildings of Teremiski, Mordvan, Estonian and Finnish peoples’ 1887) was the first Finnish thesis on folklore. In his home country the thesis was greeted with less than complete enthusiasm, but in both Germany and Russia the German translation received a great deal of attention. Heikel also picked up over a thousand artefacts for the collection of the students’ nations ethnographic museum.

Heikel’s expeditions were not limited to the proto-Finnish speaking peoples of the Volga region. He also made journeys to the Baltic region, Siberia, Mongolia and Karelia. Following his visit to the Baltic region he published an extensive description of the area’s national costumes, but the trips to Siberia and Mongolian went largely unreported.

In spite of the mixed reception for his thesis, in 1889 Heikel was named the first docent in Finnish folklore at the Imperial Alexander University. However he never had time for his academic studies. He is only known to have given one course of lectures at the University. And even though the academic work had to make way for the museum work, in 1920 Heikel was awarded an honorary professorship for his services to ethnology.

Sources (in Finnish):

• Juhani Lehtonen, ’Heikel, Axel Olai (1851–1924). Kansatieteilijä, Seurasaaren ulkomuseon perustaja, professori’, National Biography of Finland online. Accessed September 3, 2015.
• A. O. Heikel. Kansatieteilijä, Cultural museums ”Kaukaa haettua” website. Accessed March 9, 2015.
• Seurasaaren ulkomuseo, National Board of Antiquities website. Accessed March 9, 2015.
• Wikipedia, Axel Olai Heikel, Accessed March 9, 2015.