Ajalooline Ajakiri. The Estonian Historical Journal

100 aastat Ajaloolist Ajakirja

Janet Janet — 2022-12-30

Ajaloolise Ajakirja uus algus

Pärtel Piirimäe — 2022-12-30

The Academic Historical Society in 1920–8

Mihkel Truman — 2022-12-30

The Estonian-language University of Tartu, which opened in the late autumn of 1919, was to become both the educational temple of Estonia and its main research centre. To confirm this principle, the University of Tartu Act adopted in 1925 explicitly prescribed that the task of the University, in addition to providing higher education, was also to promote scholarship in general, especially in regard to Estonian life, and to bring science closer to the people. In addition to the University’s various research institutions, academic societies operating at the university also played a vital role in promoting that ‘scholarship in general, especially in regard to Estonian life’.

In total, thirty-seven academic societies were founded at the University of Tartu between 1920 and 1939. Of these, the most important in terms of scholarly activity were the Academic Historical Society (1920), the Academic Mother Tongue Society (1920), the Academic Agricultural Society (1920), the Academic Society of Religious Studies (1921), the Academic Forestry Society (1921), the Academic Veterinary Society (1922), the Academic Medical Society (1922), the Academic Philosophical Society (1922), the Academic Chemistry Society (1923), the Academic Economics Society (1923), the Academic Law Society (1924), the Academic Literary Society (1924), the Academic Herbal Science Society (1924), the Academic Folklore Society (1925), and the Academic Mathematics Society (1926). In addition to the above, it is also necessary to mention the scientific organisations that had already previously been operating in connection with the University – especially the Learned Estonian Society (1838), the Estonian Naturalists’ Society (1853), and the Estonian Literary Society (1907).

This article focuses on the activities of the Academic Historical Society, which was founded at the initiative of Arno Rafael Cederberg, in the years 1920–28, and on its goals and achievements in the context of the development of Estonian historical science.

Cederberg was not convinced that the foundation of Estonian historical science could be based only on research conducted at the university. As such, he decided to found the first Estonian Academic Historical Society right after his arrival in Tartu in the early 1920s. While the primary goal of this society was to get students interested in history, particularly Estonian history, the society quickly developed into the centre of Estonian historical science.

He started hosting conferences where young Estonian historians and students, as well as experienced scholars, were able to present their research. In 1922, the Society began awarding a scholarship each year to 5–10 students so they could spend the summer holiday in particular regions gathering oral reports from the local population. This method was used to catalogue all of Estonia within a decade.

In 1922, the Academic Historical Society started publishing Estonia’s first reputable historical scholarly journal called The Estonian Historical Journal. The journal was published every quarter and consisted of schol-arly articles, significant archaeological finds, profiles of outstanding Finn-ish and Scandinavian historians, general discussions on theoretical ques-tions, and reviews of research papers and publications.

Cederberg also helped coordinate several important tasks for the fur-ther development of Estonian historical science. Starting in the mid-1920s, The Estonian Historical Bibliography and The Estonian Biographical Lexicon were released under the aegis of the Academic Historical Society, along with a series of editions and source publications. Cederberg also led the extensive work of writing The Estonian National History, starting at the end of the 1920s.

Just like the organisation of the archives of the Republic of Estonia and the development of the Estonian and Nordic history study program at the national university, the Academic Historical Society, founded at Ceder-berg’s initiative, and its various publications were of decisive importance in the coordination and development of Estonian history.

“After all, art history is a new discipline at this university”. Establishment of the cabinet of art history at the University of Tartu

Eero Kangor — 2022-12-30

The aspiration for truth that was a feature of the Age of Enlightenment was also a driving force for studying Baltic history, and for describing and drawing old buildings and ruins. This activity became more systematic in the next century, when the Baltic educated literati established learned societies. However, when the University of Tartu was reopened in 1802, the professor of aesthetics and related subjects focused on classical antiquity and neglected local art history. It was only in 1919, when the University was reorganised as a national institution of the independent Republic of Estonia, that a separate chair was established for art history. The competition for the first professor of art history resulted in the invitation of a Swedish art historian Tor Helge Kjellin (1885–1984), who launched the systematic study of local mediaeval heritage, especially churches. His arrival in Tartu in 1922 can be considered the starting point of the professionalisation of the research of Estonian art history.

Estonian art historiography has been studied sporadically since the 1960s, with only a few articles published before the 2010s on the beginnings of professional art history education at the University of Tartu. The Soviet occupation of Estonia made it impossible to travel abroad to study Helge Kjellin’s written legacy in Swedish archives. After the restoration of Estonia’s independence, a new interest in Estonian art historiography emerged. The leading researchers of Estonian art historiography have been Juta Keevallik and Professor Krista Kodres, who have inspired me to study the 1920s.

In 1919, following the example of the Nordic countries, a ‘chair of aesthetics and general history of art’ was also established at the University of Tartu. Yet it was not until the Estonian state had acquired part of the art collection of the Liphart Baltic German noble family that the competition for the chair of art history was launched in June of 1920. A year later, the Viennese professor Josef Strzygowsky was elected as the first professor of art history, but since he declined, the next candidate in the competition, the art history docent from Lund University, Helge Kjellin, was invited. He arrived in Tartu the next year, on 17 January 1922. On 23 January, he already appealed to the university rector to allocate rooms for his art history seminar:

After all, art history is a new discipline at this university and so the university library is not stocked well enough with special literature on art history. Therefore, I have brought with me my own library […], and picture collection (photographs, slides, etc).

Professor Kjellin pointed out that the art history seminar should also be provided with drawings and graphic art collections for the students to study different artistic techniques. He mentioned 15 chairs for students as part of the furniture needed for the seminar. However, a week later it turned out that about 40 students had registered for his seminars and about 100 wished to attend his lectures, most of them girls who thirsted for knowledge. In Estonia, art history was still regarded as a subject of general knowledge for the educated elite, rather than the scientific study of art, Kunstwissenschaft, which German scholars envisioned and had aspired to since the end of the 19th century, with the most important centres at the universities of Berlin and Vienna. However, it was precisely this new Scientific (or academic) art history that Kjellin wanted to establish in Tartu.

Kjellin directly linked Tartu to Berlin. He had studied at Uppsala University with the Swedish art historian, then a docent, Johnny Roosval, and later at Lund University with Professor Ewert Wrangel. In turn, Heinrich Wölfflin and Adolph Goldschmidt were Roosval’s professors in Berlin. Roosval wanted to shape Swedish art history according to the German model. He inspired his students to choose Swedish mediaeval art as their subject, and Kjellin was one of the students who followed his advice. After graduating from Uppsala University in 1913, Kjellin worked at museums in Stockholm and Malmö, but was then invited by Wrangel to continue his studies in Lund where he also defended his doctoral thesis in 1917. Kjellin concentrated on the study of mediaeval Swedish churches. In Estonia as well, he wanted to discover the mediaeval influences from the island of Gotland on the churches in the Old Livonian island of Ösel and the county of Wiek (the western part of Estonia).

Kjellin managed to engage at least some of his Estonian students to help him with his scholarly pursuits. In fact, the University of Tartu’s study system at that time encouraged students to already practice research methods in their first years. Seminars had a significant role in the teaching of art history at the beginning of the 20th century. Kjellin gave students practical exercises in the art history seminars at Tartu, e.g. they had to describe neoclassical buildings in the city of Tartu. Later they would catalogue the university library’s graphic collections. In seminars, they would present a paper on a chosen or given subject, but they would also discuss papers presented by their fellow students. During summer vacation, some students had the opportunity to put their knowledge into practice by helping Kjellin to describe churches in Saaremaa. Some more able students, who chose art history as their main subject, would even conduct independent research at archives in Tartu, Tallinn, and Riga, where they would also collect (photo)graphic and descriptive material on historic buildings and art.

Kjellin already left the chair in Tartu in September of 1924 for financial reasons. The University of Tartu could not pay Kjellin the salary he requested because it was more than the Ministry of Education allowed.

Foreign professors received larger salaries than Estonian professors anyway. Kjellin agreed to examine his students in 1925 as well and reviewed a few of his students’ master’s theses in 1926 and 1928. He also continued his research on Estonian medieval architecture and published a few studies in 1928 and 1932, but later dropped Estonian subjects from his fields of interest.

As mentioned before, Kjellin had ca 100 art history students. A third of them took the final exam in art history. Only seven of them sat the exam at the most difficult level, which allowed them to defend a master’s degree in art history. Of these seven, only two defended their degree and only one of them – Voldemar Vaga – went to work as an art historian and later became Professor of Art History at the University of Tartu. Many of the female students who studied art history with Kjellin became history teachers in schools.

However, Kjellin’s contribution to the study and teaching of art history, but also heritage conservation in Estonia, is fundamental. Together with the archaeology professor Aarne Michael Tallgren, he prepared the draft of the first heritage conservation law in Estonia, which was passed in the Estonian parliament in 1925. The study collections – photographs, slides, measurement drawings, and descriptions of the art history seminar (later cabinet) have retained their scholarly value even today. Although the chair of art history was left vacant starting from 1925, Sweden was once again the place from where the second professor of art history – Sten Ingvar Karling – was invited to Tartu in 1932. Kjellin had created excellent teaching conditions for the new professor and for future students to study art history at the University of Tartu.

The emergence of diplomatic protocol service within the structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia (1918–40)

Silver Loit — 2022-12-30

The emergence of diplomatic protocol service within the structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Estonia (1918–40) is a subject that has hitherto not been researched. This is illustrated by the fact that even the complete list of chiefs of protocol (chef du protocole) of the MFA of Estonia has been missing until now. The strengthening of Estonia’s statehood by its international recognition, the accreditation of foreign envoys, and the first state visits brought about the need for a thorough understanding of all nuances of diplomatic protocol and ceremonial. Nevertheless, the office of a separate chief of protocol was created in the structure of the MFA of Estonia only according to the new Foreign Service Act, decreed by the Head of State Konstantin Päts on 13 March 1936; i.e. more than 18 years after the declaration of Estonia’s independence. Prior to 1936, the functions of protocol officers were usually fulfilled by the head of the MFA’s administrative or political department. This article focuses on three core issues: 1) who were the chiefs of protocol? 2) their functions and how diplomatic protocol was regulated in the MFA; 3) the reason why a separate office of the chief of protocol was not created earlier than 1936. The key source for this research is the MFA collection in the Estonian National Archives (RA, ERA.957).

There are no clear sources regarding the functions of the chief of protocol before 1922. The field was most probably shaped and shared by several officials, including the head of the political department Hermann Karl Hellat (1872–1953) and William Tomingas (1895–1972), the junior private secretary of Foreign Minister Jaan Tõnisson (1868–1941?). Everything connected to international practices was probably influenced by the most experienced diplomats of the young state, namely the members of Estonia’s foreign delegation, which had already been created in 1917. Another major influence was Foreign Minister Jaan Poska (1866–1920), who as a former mayor of Tallinn, the former governor of the autonomous Governorate of Estonia, and the head of Estonia’s delegation at the peace talks with Soviet Russia, had extensive experience in protocol-related matters.

Hans Johannes (Johan) Ernst Markus (1884–1969) can be deemed the first chief of protocol to be mentioned in the hitherto known sources of the MFA. According to an MFA report to the Estonian government from July of 1922, Markus was the head of the MFA’s Western political department and performed the duties of ‘master of ceremonies’ as well. In January of 1923, Markus was appointed head of the MFA’s administrative department. He remained in this office until April of 1927, coordinating the state visits of the President of Latvia Jānis Čakste (February of 1924), the Secretary General of the League of Nations Eric Drummond (February of 1924), and the President of Finland Lauri Kristian Relander (May of 1925), as well as the state visits of Estonia’s Head of State, the presentation of credentials, and day-to-day work regarding diplomatic privileges and immunities. Since the chief of protocol was responsible for organising ceremonies connected to the Head of State (Riigivanem), Markus could be considered not only as a coordinator of the MFA’s protocol matters, but as the chief of state protocol. Markus certainly did not work alone. He could rely on the administrative department and basically the whole MFA in fulfilling his functions, while also counting on the support of the aide-de-camp to the Head of State. Nevertheless, it was Markus who laid the ’cornerstone’ for the best practices that could be systematised and used by his successors.

In April of 1927, the functions of the chief of protocol were taken over by Johan Leppik (1894–1965), the former Envoy to Poland and Romania, and Chargé d’Affaires in Czechoslovakia. In August of 1927, Leppik was appointed head of the MFA’s political department. According to the MFA’s working arrangement, Leppik retained the functions of chef du protocole in his new office starting from January of 1928. Since the grand, first-ever state visit of a monarch to Estonia, by King Gustaf V of Sweden in June of 1929, and the visit of the President of Poland Ignacy Mościcki in August of 1930 (which were preceded by the state visits of Estonia’s Head of State to those countries) required extensive preparations, Leppik could rely on the work of his subordinate, the head of the political bureau and deputy chief of protocol Elmar-Johann Kirotar (1899–1985). In June of 1931, Leppik was succeeded by the director of the bureau of law Artur Haman (Tuldava) (1897–1942) in his office as chief of protocol. Haman (Tuldava) put great effort into systematising existing practices related to protocol (incl. Presentation of credentials, and receptions) into a comprehensive compendium, which has been preserved to this day. The efficient work of Kirotar and Tuldava was probably noted by Estonia’s leadership, since once the separaate office of the chief of protocol had been created within the structure of the MFA, the position was filled first by Kirotar (1936–9) and then by Tuldava (1939–40). The quest for stability was most probably connected to the strong presidential power that shaped Estonia’s political life in the latter half of the 1930s. The personal influence of the head of state became more important in filling high-ranking positions in the state structure. According to the Foreign Service Act adopted by Parliament (Riigikogu) on 30 May 1930, departmental directors were appointed by the Foreign Minister. The Foreign Service Act decreed by the Head of State on 13 March 1936 changed this procedure. According to the latter, departmental directors (incl. the chief of protocol) were appointed and dismissed by the Head of State (upon taking into consideration proposals from the Foreign Minister).

There is no clear answer to the question of why there was no separate office of the chief of protocol in the 1920s, since these functions needed to be fulfilled anyway. This was most probably connected to budgetary restrictions i.e. the need to avoid all kinds of ’unnecessary’ expenses.

In the 1930s, the director of the administrative department Jaan Mölder (1880–1942, in office 1935–6) and the head of the consular bureau August Koern (1900–89, in office 1936) also briefly fulfilled the functions of the chief of protocol. The latter was especially involved in systematising the rules and regulations of diplomatic practices. Like his predecessors and successors, he sent numerous inquiries to Estonia’s representations abroad to collect information on matters connected to privileges and immunities, decorations, preseance, organisation of state funerals, etc.

According to sources at the Estonian National Archives, Estonia’s MFA collected information on international diplomatic practice everywhere that it was represented by its missions abroad. Already during the first years of Estonia’s independence, the MFA possessed the popular Guide to Diplomatic Practice by Sir Ernest Mason Satow (first issued in 1917) and several protocol-related compendiums from Finland, the United States of America, Great Britain, etc. It can be concluded that without a rich heritage of diplomatic practice of its own, Estonia was quickly able to successfully adapt to the international environment in matters of diplomatic protocol.