The first decades of the 19th century were a time of the rise of national cultures across Europe. Finland's national awakening was supported by political developments in the area. In 1809 Finland became part of the Russian Empire, which planned to rid Finland of its ideological links with Sweden. This created the opportunity of raising education standards for the Finnish speaking majority.

The Finnish Literature Society (SKS) was founded in 1831 by men working at Helsinki University, who were interested in the Finnish language and who believed in its literary future. They had received their own education at Turku Academy, where the influential historian and folk tradition researcher H. G. Porthan had taught at the end of the 18th century. They used literature societies which had been founded in university cities around Europe in the late 1700's as a model for the Finnish Literature Society.

One of the society's first rules was that 'language is the foundation of nationality'. However, the society was not just an academic discussion group: it was also a centre for the growth of national sentiment, which attracted the ordinary people in addition to officials and students. In 1846 the society accepted its first women members.

One of the largest projects of the early years was the extensive collection and publication of oral folk poetry. The society funded the excursions to Eastern Finland and Karelia made by its first secretary, Elias Lönnrot, and published his works based on these trips: Kalevala (1835, 1849) and Kanteletar (1840).

By collecting folk poetry it was possible to chart the little-known literature which existed in Finnish and at the same time enrich the Finnish language with the expressions of a vibrant national language. The society began to publish works of both fiction and non-fiction in Finnish: histories, grammars and dictionaries, pamphlets about natural science or the law and translations of the classics of world literature. The Society tried to find new writers of short prose and plays by organising writing competitions. The first novel to be written in the Finnish language, Aleksis Kivi's Seven Brothers, was published by the Society in 1870.