Torsten Steinby

Torsten Steinby (born July 25, 1908 in Helsinki ; died October 16, 1995 in Helsinki) was a Finnish historian , journalist and non-fiction author .

Steinby passed his master's degree in history at the University of Helsinki in 1935 and was initially a teacher and school principal. After the Second World War , Steinby, who was already working as an editor for the Studentbladet during his studies , worked as a freelance publicist. In 1945 his first book “ Romerska år och minnen: en bok om Finland i Rom. “After a number of contributions to the Hufvudstadsbladet , he got a job and became deputy editor-in-chief of the paper.

Steinby had a very good relationship with the Finnish newspaper magnate Amos Anderson , patron and cultural personality with an interest in Europe's ancient culture. In 1938 Anderson provided the share capital for the foundation of an Institutum Romanum Finlandiae to be founded in Rome , which was to be set up on the model of the Svenska Institutet i Rom founded in 1925 . After the war, Steinby became the foundation secretary in 1948. When the foundation received a large amount of money anonymously in 1951, the establishment of the institute in Rome was pursued with vigor and the Roman Villa Lante on the Gianicolo in Rome was acquired by the Finnish state. After restoration work, the Institutum Romanum Finlandiae was opened in 1954 , serving research and teaching on the cultural heritage of ancient Rome and making the knowledge gained in Finland accessible to a broader public.

Steinby was its founding director from 1953 to 1955. In 1956 he was at the University of Helsinki with the work “ Romersk publicistik: skriftlig nyhetstjänst och opinion under Ciceros tid ”. (“Roman Journalism: Circulation of Written News and Opinion Formation in the Time of Cicero”). In 1960 he became editor-in-chief of " Hufvudstadsbladet " and held this position until his retirement in 1974.

Steinby was elected member of Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland ("Society for Swedish Literature in Finland") in 1964 , of which he was chairman from 1974 to 1979. In 1974 he was awarded the title of professor. Steinby received the Finnish literary prizes Tollanderska priset 1984 and Svenska Akademiens Finlandspris 1986 for his journalistic activities .

Fonts (selection)

• Finland i den eviga cities. Anderson, Helsinki 1951
• Romerska pictures. Geber, Stockholm 1953
• Villa Lante. Institutum Romanum Finlandiae, Helsinki 1953
• Romersk publicistik. Skriftlig nyhetstjänst och opinion under Ciceros tid. Tilgmann, Helsinki 1956
• På Gianicolo. Helsinki 1958
• Finlands tidningspress. En historisk översikt. Sveriges Finlandsföreningars riksförbund, Stockholm 1963
• Peter Forsskål and tankar om borgerliga friheten. Hufvudstadsbladet, Helsinki 1970
• Försäkrings tidskrift 1905–1913. Helsinki 1977
• Amos Anderson. Föreningen Konstsamfund, Helsinki 1979
• Johan Jakob Nervander i Sverige. Sällskapet, Helsinki 1988
• Forskning och vitterhet: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland 1885–1985. Sällskapet, Helsinki 1989
• Johan Jakob Nervander. Föreningen Konstsamfund, Helsinki 1991
• Elva uppsatser. Föreningen Konstsamfund, Helsinki 1992
• JJ Nervander och Jephtas bok. Östra Nylands tryckeri, Lovisa 1993

Web links

• Literature by and about Torsten Steinby in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biography in the Biografiskt lexikon för Finland (Swedish).