Matthias Akiander, professor of Russian language and literature, pursued a noteworthy career both as a linguist and historian. Despite the lack of an academic degree, he was respected in the academic world and worked to promote Finnish as a language of science and letters.

Akiander wrote his first textbook as early as 1831, while working in his second year as a Russian teacher at Helsingin triviaalikoulu. The text book was a Russian primer written in Swedish, which was followed four years later by a grammar of Russian. Its Finnish language edition was published in 1864.

Akiander’s interest in history had already been piqued while at school in Vyborg, thanks to his enthusiastic teacher, Evert. Well-versed in Russian, Akiander already made a significant contribution to the field in 1848, by publishing a wide collection of Swedish translations of Russian annals.

His greatest work in the field of history was, however, the study of Finnish religious movements, for which he collected material until the end of the 1950s. The research material was considered of great value, and the University decided to fund its publication in its entirety. Historiska upplysningar om de religiösa rörelserna i Finland i äldre och senare tider, his magnum opus, was released in seven parts between 1857 and 1863.

On the theme of church history, Akiander also published a wideranging work on Finland’s Eastern Diocese, Herdaminne för fordna Wiborgs och nuvarande Borgå stift (1868–1869), and a study on the formation, conditions and judicial nature of the ceded territories of Old Finland (1864).

Akiander also worked to promote Finnish as a language of science and letters. As early as the 1840s he outlined the establishment of an entirely Finnish-language institute of further and higher education in a letter to Elias Lönnrot. The idea was realised, but not until the founding of the Jyväskylä Lyceum school in 1858 and the Jyväskylä teacher training college in 1863. Akiander felt that the lack of Finnish textbooks was a problem. He proofread and improved the Finnish in a hymn book in 1846, a manual for clerics in 1848 and a catechism in 1852. Akiander was also praised for his corrections to the Finnish language edition of the New Testament (1852). Among others Georg Zacharias Forsman commended Akiander’s redaction with the words “the purest Finnish for the holy books.”

Sources:

• Georg Luther, Akiander, Matthias, National Biography of Finland online publication. Accessed September 3, 2015. Available for free on Nelli.
• Yrjö Kotivuori, Ylioppilasmatrikkeli 1640–1852: Matthias Akiander, online publication. Accessed September 3, 2015
• Matthias Akiander, Wikipedia. Accessed September 3, 2015.