The society organizes events, engages in publishing, research, and dissemination of information on these topics, and awards grants and recognition prizes.

[4] The ideological foundation of the society was Karelianism, a national romantic movement that idealized the region of Karelia, with its untouched landscapes and traditional villages.

Karelianism reached its peak in the 1890s and the early 1900s, a period later referred to as the Golden Age of Finnish Art.

To revive the interest, the artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Senator E. N. Setälä, and dental professor Matti Äyräpää [fi] decided to form a society for those who believed in the symbolic value of the Kalevala, as well as the political and romantic significance of Karelia.

[6] The society’s primary objective, as established in 1911, was to promote collaboration between the arts and sciences related to Finnish oral folklore.

Before the 1970s, the Yearbook consisted of a collection of freely selected articles from scholars in various fields, without a specific thematic focus.