Helsinki University Museum /Collections /

Photographic Collections, Archive and Library

Our Photographic Collections hold approximately 58 000 photographs, of which about half have been digitized. The collections include photographs of persons pertaining to the history of the University, buildings, festivities, student life, research and teaching as well as plenty of photographs pertaining to medical history, mostly from hospitals across Finland.

The Museum Archive contains material pertaining to medical history and hospitals as well as material pertaining to the education of Arts and Craft teachers.

The Library houses a selection of literature about medical history and the history of healthcare. The Museum also has a small reference library pertaining to University history. 

The Photographic Collections, the Archive and the Library are open according to appointment.

The YL Male voice choir putting on a farce in order to raise money for a concert trip to North America in the early 1950s. Photo: Yrjö Lintunen.Ball at the Old Student House in connection with the Conferment Ceremony of the Faculty of Philosophy in the year 2000. Professor Matti Klinge is carried aloft in a chair. Photo: Jakke Nikkarinen.Ernst Neovius (Nevanlinna) skiing with friends in the year 1895. The second person from the left is J.K. Paasikivi, the first from the right is Ernst Neovius. Photo by unknown photographer.Professor Johan Wilhelm Runeberg teaching on a ward round in the New Clinic in the year 1893. This is probably the oldest photo of Finnish doctors wearing white coats. Photo by unknown photographer.Students spending time on the asphalt in the 1990s. Photo: Eero Roine.Professors Terttu Nevalainen and Matti Rissanen demonstrate the essential tools of the linguist in the year 2000, that is books and a computer. Photo: Veikko Somerpuro.The Conferment Procession of the Faculty of Social Sciences is troubled by the wind. Photo: Veikko Somerpuro, 2000.Jerri the cat is operated on in the Small Animal Clinic. Photo: Veikko Somerpuro, 2000.Professor Timo Koponen teaching the Moss course, which was arranged for the first time in the 1870s. Photo: Veikko Somerpuro, 2000.Rolf Nevanlinna playing the violin. Photographer and date unknown.Dancing in Kumpula on Flower Day, May 13, as a part of the festivities in connection with the Conferment Ceremony of the Philosophical Faculty in the year 2000. Photo: Jakke Nikkarinen.A student in the University Main Building cafeteria in the early 1950s. Photo: Yrjö Lintunen.The Psychological department's Memory Clinic in the 1990s. Photo: Ari Aalto.Coursebook collection and reading room of the Agricultural library in Viikki. Photo: Helsinki University Department of Photography, 1980.Students doing farmwork at the Viikki teaching and experimental farming facility in the 1960s or 1970s. Photo by unknown photographer.Microbiological research in the 1970s. Photo: Helsinki University Department of Photography.