Tauno Jussi Rainio was born 23th of March 1914 in Helsinki. During his stay at Helsinki University was trained as a scholar of languages, folklore and ethnography of Ugro-Finnish nations.

In the late autumn 1941 Jussi Rainio was sent to the occupied by Finnish troops Sheltozersky region of Eastern Karelia as an educational officer. Staying at the office till the summer 1944 Jussi Rainio left a remarkable trace in the study of Veps nation. He recorded (also on the tape-recorder) lot of Veps tales and sayings, gathered and sketches 460 Veps topographic names in the neighborhood of the South-West shore of Onego lake and shoot a collection of unique photos. In 1944 together with Martti Airila and Aimo Turunen he created a Vepsian language textbook "Vepsän opas", that was build on the basis on Northen Veps dialect. It was published in Helsinki in 1945. In 1968 a collection of Veps sayings, collected by him during the War times, was published.

After creation of Vepsian ethnographic museum Jussi Rainio presented to it some of his printed works and a collection of his photos taken in 1942-1944.

Photos courtesy of Michael Dankov