Sumtsov was a champion and defender of the culture and language of Ukraine in both academic and popular realms,[1] and contributed to a systematic history of Ukrainian literature.

His father, Fyodor Ivanovich Sumtsov, worked in the Imperial Ministry of Finance in St. Petersburg, and after his retirement in 1856, moved to Kharkiv, where he died the same year.

Supported by his mentor, Alexander Potebnja, he dedicated his introductory lecture to Ukrainian duma (Cossack epic song).

In 1885 Sumtsov was awarded a PhD degree for his thesis Khleb v Obriadakh i Pesniakh (Bread in Rituals and Songs) and in 1888 he was appointed professor.

In addition to the local periodicals, his works were also published in Bulgarian, Polish, Bohemian, German and French academic publications.

Sumtsov is also known as the author of a detailed research on the history of Cossack baroque thinkers, theologians and poets like Ivan Vyshensky, Lazar Baranovych, Ioanikii Galiatovsky, and Innokentii Gizel (See: On the history of literature in Southern Russia of the 17th century, in original: K istorii iuzhnorusskoi literatury semnadtsatogo stoletiia.

The works Sumtsov's also include literary publications on Ukrainian thinkers like Ivan Kotliarevsky, Taras Shevchenko, Panteleimon Kulish, Mykhailo Starytsky and Alexander Potebnja.