One of the main goals of the well-read, polyglot Grot was to promote Finno-Russian cultural relations and improve the Finnish intelligentsia’s image of Russia. He had made close acquaintances in the academic and cultural circles of Helsinki, the small size of which he would accentuate in his correspondence with his Russian supporters.

As a professor and inspector of Russian teaching, Grot worked diligently to better Finns’ Russian skills, which was the goal of the Russian political elite in the formation of the professorship. Grot himself considered that he had failed at this task. In reality, he had a particularly notable influence as a cultural ambassador between Russia and Finland. His interest in Finnish culture is also evident in the fact that he was one of the founding members of the Finno-Ugrian Society in 1883.

At the same time, Grot worked to improve Russians’ knowledge of Finland. He wrote actively in the Russian journal Sovremennik about the situation in Finland and the Finnish people, Finnish folk poetry, city life and culture in Helsinki and the Fennomans – especially Elias Lönnrot and Johan Ludvig Runeberg.

Grot also actively translated both Finnish and Swedish literature into Russian. He admired the work of Swedish poets. For example, the poetry of Frans Michael Franzén, Esaias Tegnér and Erik Johan Stagnelius was, in Grot’s opinion, unrivalled in Russia. Grot travelled to Sweden many times to acquaint himself with Swedish cultural circles.

Perhaps the farthest-reaching influence of Grot’s time in Helsinki is the Slavonic Library of the National Library. After familiarising himself with the university library in 1840, Grot found some complimentary copies of printed items from Russia. These items were scattered throughout the library, however, and Grot decided to place them in a separate collection.

Grot obtained new premises for the Russian library, first in the new library building and from 1847 in the main building of the university. Grot saw to nearly all of the practical arrangements himself – including the layout, listing, furniture purchases and bookbinding. He also acquired other literature in addition to the complementary copies, but eliminated those he deemed unnecessary. The significance of national languages changed during Grot’s time. They were no longer only matters of research and general interest but began to have an influence on the arrangements of libraries and collections. Around the same time that Grot was working on his Russian collection, Fredrik Pipping separated the Fennica collection from the other sections. Separating the Russian collection had two somewhat contradictory effects: on one hand it emphasised the status of the Russian language, on the other it weakened it by the Russian material’s separation from other library items.

References

• Hjalmar Grape, ”En rysk banbrytare för svensk kultur”, Ord och Bild 1922, 268–274.
• Kirsti Ekonen, ”Mies maailmanluokan kirjaston takana”, Kansalliskirjasto journal 4/2012.
• Matti Klinge, Grot, Jakov, National biography online publication. Accessed July 30 2015. Available for free via Nelli
• Maija Väisänen, Grot, Jakov, Biografiskt lexikon för Finland online publication. Accessed July 30 2015.