Archive collection of publications by the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland

The Society of Swedish Literature in Finland (SLS) was founded in 1885 to preserve, explore and disseminate knowledge about Swedish culture in Finland as well as process and publish historical and collected material. Since its inaugural, SLS has had the task of maintaining publishing activities. The invitation letter to the Society’s founding meeting in 1885 mentions “continuing publications, containing source texts, eulogies or written remembrances and portrayals of cultural conditions as well as studies of Swedish dialects, Swedish folk songs and stories”. The aim was to produce historical research that would continue to strengthen “feelings for the work and deeds of ancestors”. In practice, during the first few years, publishing was largely guided by the availability of finished manuscripts offered to the Board of SLS. The first publication appeared the year after the society’s founding, and publication activities have continued ever since.

The breadth and diversity of the collection of publications reflect the changes in research interests and focus areas over time. Whereas the early publications were mainly of a documentary and reporting nature, the more recent ones are increasingly specialised and focused on niche scholarly fields. The early publications created the foundation for nearly all future research on the Swedish language and culture in Finland. Containing both analogue and, since 2010, digital publications, the collection is without parallel. To this day, it is Finland’s main Swedish-language channel for research in the humanities and social sciences. SLS’s publication series have a distinct role in upholding and documenting the Swedish language and culture in Finland. The SLS collection of publications is thematically expansive, ranging from dialect research and folklore to source publications of archival material and historical research. What they have in common is their link to the Swedish language and culture in Finland.

The collection contains editions of complete bodies of work. Of these, special reference can be made to the collected writings of J. L. Runeberg in 29 volumes, of Zacharias Topelius in 23 parts and of Edith Södergran in three volumes. It also includes general works such as Finlands svenska historia (Finland’s Swedish history) in four parts, Svenskan i Finland – i går och i dag (The Swedish in Finland – past and present) in six parts, Finlands svenska litteraturhistoria (Finland’s Swedish literary history) in two parts and Vardagens föränderliga rum (Changing spaces in daily lives) in three parts, as well as encyclopedias such as Biografiskt lexikon för Finland (Biographic lexicon for Finland) and Förvaltningshistorisk ordbok (Dictionary of administrative history) . The collection expands as new publications are released. To support open science, all SLS publications have also been published in digital format since 2018. The collection includes all titles, even those that have only been published digitally.