Walter Anderson (1885-1962) was the first professor at the Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore.
An account of his life is available on Wikipedia
Since the Department's centenary in 2019, an Anderson Lecture has been held each autumn semester, given by a distinguished visiting folklorist. Videos of the lectures are available on the University's uttv.ee page.
2019 Timothy Tangherlini 'Kaiser und Data: Folkloristics in an Algorithmic Age' https://uttv.ee/naita?id=28779
2020 Terry Gunnell 'Grimm Ripples: The Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen and the Collection and Creation of National Folk Narratives in Northern Europe' https://uttv.ee/naita?id=30712
2021 Guntis Šmidchens 'Variants in American and Estonian Folkloristics' https://uttv.ee/naita?id=32300
2022 Lotte Tarkka 'If the One I know Came – The Poem, Laws of Folklore and Imagination' https://uttv.ee/naita?id=34058
2023 Bengt af Klintberg 'The Baby on the Track: A Newspaper Legend with Roots in the 19th Century' https://uttv.ee/naita?id=34879
2024 Hans-Jörg Uther 'Worldviews about Disabled Persons in Folktales' https://uttv.ee/naita?id=36143
2025 tba