Aurora Society

Aurora Society was a national Finnish literary society based around The Royal Academy of Turku (Sw. Kungliga Akademien i Åbo) 1770-1779. The Society consisted of many prominent members from the Finnish cultural sphereand had as foucal points poetry, Finnish history, geography an the research of language and economy.The Society published Finlands first newspaper, Åbo Tidningar (Tidningar Utgifne Af et Sällskap i Åbo), between the years 1771-1778 and 1782-1785.Furthermore the first public orchestra concerts in Finland were also organized by the Aurora Society.

The society was a typical product of the Enlightenment period: a secret society on one hand and a cultural and educational organization on the other. [http://www.fimic.fi/fimic/fimic.nsf/mainframe?readform&B3DDE16ED09DFD88C22567F40043EAE9]

Members

*Henrik Gabriel Porthan
*Magnus Jacob Alopaeus
*Carl Fredrik Fredenheim
*Johan Lilius

Sources

*Birth of the Finnish press, http://virtual.finland.fi/netcomm/news/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=27113
*Musical life in Finland in the 17th and 18th centuries, http://www.fimic.fi/fimic/fimic.nsf/mainframe?readform&B3DDE16ED09DFD88C22567F40043EAE9
*Henrik Gabriel Porthan, http://www.finnica.fi/centralfinland/whatislike/porthanesittely.htm
*http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora-seura
*Article in kansallisbiografia, http://artikkelihaku.kansallisbiografia.fi/artikkeli/2599/
*A concise history of Finland By D. G. Kirby, [http://books.google.com/]
*A History of Finland's Literature By George C. Schoolfield, [http://books.google.com/]