In his article on the one hand the author gives an edition of three letters of the pioneer of archaeology in Finland, J.R. Aspelin (1842–1915), to the ethnographer and editor of the journal Globus, Richard Andree (1835–1912), form the years 1890–1892, and on the other hand describes the role of Aspelin in the history of the “pre-history” of Old Turkic studies.