The collection of the Sheltozero Veps Ethnographic Museum features the hat of the founder of the museum, Rurik Petrovich Lonin (1930–2009), a local historian, collector of folklore, writer (wrote in Vepsian and Russian), Honored Cultural Worker of the Republic of Karelia. Rurik Petrovich wore this hat during his years of work at the museum.

Rurik Petrovich Lonin was born on September 22, 1930 in the village of Kaskesruchey in the Sheltozero district of Karelian ASSR. From 1957 to 2009, he lived in the village of Sheltozero in the Prionezhsky district of the Republic of Karelia. In the late 1950s, Rurik Lonin began collecting Veps folklore. He traveled extensively to Veps villages and the villages of the Karelian Prionezhye, Leningrad and Vologda regions. In the early 1960s, he had the idea of creating a museum that, with its exhibits and documents, could comprehensively reflect the history, culture and way of life of the Veps people from ancient times to the present day.

In 1967, the Sheltozero Folk Museum was opened, now the Sheltozero Veps Ethnographic Museum, a branch of the National Museum of the Republic of Karelia, the only one in Russia which tells about the history and culture of the descendants of the legendary Ves people. From 1956 to 1993, in his spare time, Rurik Petrovich was engaged in collecting oral folk art, which formed the basis for his folklore collections. He published seven books in Vepsian and Russian and created audio and video archives.

Two films were shot for Lonin’s 70th birthday: “Rurik and his Sheltozero” (directed by A. Surikov), “Rurik and his Museum” (director, videographer — N.I. Shilov). Rurik Petrovich Lonin actively participated in the social life of the village of Sheltozero: in 1957–2001 he sang in the Veps Folk Choir, since the late 1980s, as an active member of the Veps Culture Society, he took part in the work on the revival of the Vepsian language and writing, and Veps culture. In 1987–1989, he taught Vepsian language at the Sheltozero Secondary School.