Matti Kuusi

[1] With encouragement from Archer Taylor[2] he founded the journal Proverbium: Bulletin d'Information sur les Recherches Parémiologiques, published from 1965 to 1975 by the Society for Finnish Literature, which was later restarted as Proverbium: International Yearbook of Proverb Scholarship.

He was a member of the noble family Granfelt, but his father had fennicized his original Swedish surname to express his political sympathies.

During his study period in the 1930s, Matti Kuusi was involved with nationalist political organizations.

In the 1950s, he was appointed as the Professor of Folklore in the University of Helsinki, and later as the member of the Academy of Finland, becoming a nationally celebrated intellectual.

[4] Kuusi's interest in the study of proverbs has been continued by his daughter, Outi Lauhakangas.