The society included the main Estonian writers, poets, artists and journalists of the time.
Leading personalities were, among others, Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Hans Wühner, Jakob Hurt, Carl Robert Jakobson, Hugo Treffner and Johann Köler.
Under Jakob Hurt the Society systematically collected Estonian folk poetry.
At the beginning of the 1880s were internal political disputes between Jacob Hurt and Carl Robert Jakobson on future direction.
One group took a moderate stance towards the Tsarist demands, the other was an Estonian nationalist faction who largely rejected these concessions.