Career
In 1913, Mervart was appointed head of the Indian department at the Museum of Anthropology & Ethnography. As a result of this expedition, Mervart managed to assemble a large and unique collection of artefacts and objects of folk art from all over South and Southeast Asia. Upon his return to Leningrad, Mervart became the keeper of the Museum of Anthropology & Ethnography (1924-1930) and a teacher at the Leningrad State University, where he would be the first one in Russia to introduce the course of the Tamil language to the curriculum.
In 1926-1929, Mervart published around 20 scientific works (including two monographs) and numerous articles
In December 1929 he was arrested on trumped-up charges in the Academics" Case, accused of espionage and sentenced to five years of imprisonment by the Joint State Political Administration Collegium. Alexander Mervart was sent to the Ukhtinsko-Pechorsky Labor Camp, where he would soon die.