The Jyväskylä University Museum has published a curated collection of Conferment Degree Ceremony on Finna archive

The Jyväskylä University Museum has published a curated collection on Finna focusing on the most prestigious celebration of the academic world, Conferment of Degrees Ceremony.
The conferment ball of the University of Jyväskylä in 1969 in the Seminarium building was photographed by Matti Salmi.
Published
20.5.2026

The upcoming Conferment of Degrees Ceremony for Masters and Doctors also invites us to look back. The Jyväskylä University Museum has published a curated collection on Finna focusing on the most prestigious celebration in the academic world. The collection features photographs from the University’s first Conferment Ceremony in 1969, as well as videos and objects related to the tradition.

The Conferment of Degrees Ceremony will be held from 22 to 24 May.

To mark the graduation ceremony the University of Jyväskylä Science Museum has published a wide range of materials detailing the university’s graduation traditions on the national Finna search service, which is open to everyone. The published collection comprises photographs, artefacts and video recordings dating back to the University of Jyväskylä’s first graduation ceremony, held in 1969.

What makes this material valuable and interesting is that comprehensive metadata has been recorded about the occasions captured and the people featured in them. It also provides a comprehensive overview of the various events and stages of the graduation ceremony. The material serves as an excellent window into, for example, the study and teaching of the graduation tradition, and through it one can also discern continuities and changes in the academic ceremonial tradition. The graduation artefacts and gowns form an interesting collection in their own right.


In the Finna collections you'll find a white gown that belonged to PhD Elina Kiuru. She wore it in a Ceremony year 1996 in her Master Degree Ceremony.

“We at the Science Museum are very pleased that, through donations and documentation, we have been able to add such a comprehensive collection of cultural heritage related to graduation ceremonies to our holdings,” says Pirita Frigren, Service Manager for Cultural and Natural Heritage Services at the Centre for Open Data.

You can browse and search the promotional material published by the Science Museum on Finna here: 
https://finna.fi/Search/Results?filter%5B%5D=building%3A%220%2FJYU_MUSEO%2F%22

Finna is an open platform for national cultural heritage, learning materials, and research and information resources. The Science Museum has previously published its collection related to Uno Cygnaeus, among other things, on Finna. 
All materials from the Open Science Centre can be found on the University of Jyväskylä’s own Finna page: 
https://jyu.finna.fi

Photographer Seppo Turpeinen took photo of the The Conferment Committee 1969 in the Seminaarinmäki Campus. Members of the Commitee were (left) Kyösti Jaakonsaari, Heikki Rusko, Kari Hokkanen, Secretary Tuovi Jokipii and Ilkka Savijärvi. Susanna named car was owned by the Student Union  and was steerd by Mauri Lindell.