Editing Kalevala (section)

===Elias Lönnrot===
{{Main|Elias Lönnrot}}
[[Image:Elias Lönrot Cabinet Portrait.jpg|thumb|150px|Elias Lönnrot]]

Elias Lönnrot (9 April 1802 – 19 March 1884) was a physician, [[botanist]], [[linguist]], and poet. At the time he was compiling the ''Kalevala'' he was the district health officer based in [[Kajaani]] responsible for the whole [[Kainuu]] region in the eastern part of what was then the [[Grand Duchy of Finland]]. He was the son of Fredrik Johan Lönnrot, a tailor, and Ulrika Lönnrot; he was born in the village of [[Sammatti]], [[Uusimaa]].

At the age of 21, he entered the [[Royal Academy of Turku|Imperial Academy of Turku]] and obtained a master's degree in 1826. His thesis was entitled ''De Vainamoine priscorum fennorum numine'' (''Väinämöinen, a Divinity of the Ancient Finns''). The [[monograph]]'s second volume was destroyed in the [[Great Fire of Turku]] the same year.<ref name="Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr.">Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. "The Kalevala or Poems of the Kaleva district" ''Appendix I. (1963)''.</ref><ref>Tuula Korolainen &amp; Riitta Tulusto. "Monena mies eläessänsä – Elias Lönnrotin rooleja ja elämänvaiheita". Helsinki: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö (2002)</ref>

In the spring of 1828, he set out with the aim of collecting folk songs and poetry. Rather than continue this work, though, he decided to complete his studies and entered [[Imperial Alexander University]] in Helsinki to study medicine. He earned a master's degree in 1832. In January 1833, he started as the district health officer of Kainuu and began his work on collecting poetry and compiling the ''Kalevala''. Throughout his career Lönnrot made a total of eleven [[field trip]]s within a period of fifteen years.<ref name="Elias Lönnrot's field trips to Kainuu">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/index.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu|access-date=17 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100513194739/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/index.html|archive-date=13 May 2010}}</ref><ref name="Elias Lönnrot (1802 - 1884)">{{cite web|url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/lonnrot.htm |title=Elias Lönnrot |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi) |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221051648/http://kirjasto.sci.fi/lonnrot.htm |archive-date=21 December 2013 }}</ref>

Prior to the publication of the ''Kalevala'', Elias Lönnrot compiled several related works, including the three-part ''Kantele'' (1829–1831), the ''Old Kalevala'' (1835) and the ''[[Kanteletar]]'' (1840).

Lönnrot's field trips and endeavours helped him to compile the ''Kalevala'', and brought considerable enjoyment to the people he visited; he would spend much time retelling what he had collected as well as learning new poems.<ref name="Travel account 1">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/matkat/m4k1.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu|access-date=20 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615130532/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/matkat/m4k1.html|archive-date=15 June 2011}}</ref><ref name="Travel account 2">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/matkat/syys1.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu|access-date=20 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615130544/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/matkat/syys1.html|archive-date=15 June 2011}}</ref>