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The Indiana University School of Medicine emerged from a number of private, proprietary medical schools that existed in Indianapolis in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The most important of these private medical schools were the Medical College of Indiana and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, both of which operated in Indianapolis. In the first decade of the twentieth century efforts began to try to merge these private schools under the state universities then in Indiana, Purdue University and Indiana University. The merger of several medical schools under Purdue University was short-lived. In 1903 Indiana University established first year (classroom) medical studies at Bloomington, and in 1907 merged with the Medical College of Indiana and the remnant of the Purdue medical school to establish clinical instruction in Indianapolis. In subsequent years the School of Medicine was housed in Indianapolis on a large campus with several hospitals, clinical, and research facilities. First year medical studies were moved to Indianapolis by the 1950s.

Immigrants to the United States in the nineteenth century founded organizations that served as social centers, maintained cultural identity, and promoted the ideals and the interests of the immigrants and their American-born descendants. The American Turners is an example of such an organization. Established by German immigrants in 1850, the American Turners advocated a liberal political philosophy and fought to protect both the political rights and the German heritage of the immigrants. The Turners encouraged the practice of exercise and physical fitness, and they convinced school boards in many cities to make physical education a part of the educational curriculum. The American Turner records include annual reports, minutes and correspondence relating to the national officers, correspondence with local societies, national convention minutes and materials, financial and membership records, national committee records, records and materials from national sporting events sponsored by the American Turners, records of the Turner Pioneers and the Women's Auxiliary, Turner publications, and materials from the German Turner movement and other organizations related to the American Turners.

Many Germans immigrated to the United States following the failure of an 1848 revolution designed to introduce democratic reforms into the governments of the German states. Among these immigrants were members of the Turners, an athletic and political organization founded in Germany during the second decade of the nineteenth century. Turners quickly established societies (known as Turnverein or Turngemeinde) in the American cities in which they settled. These societies served as athletic, political, and social centers for German communities in the United States. The Turners' most important contribution to American life in their communities has been their advocacy of physical education and fitness. Turners successfully lobbied local school boards in many cities for the inclusion of physical education classes in the curriculum, and Turner instructors served as the directors of physical education programs in many school systems in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The Indiana University School of Physical Education opened in 1866 as a private school for the instruction of gymnastic teachers and is the oldest continuously operated school of physical education in the country. The school's faculty and graduates have played a major role in the introduction of physical education into the public school curriculum and in the development of physical education as a discipline. The school, first known as the Turnlehrerseminar (Gymnastic Teachers' Seminary) and then as the Normal College of the American Gymnastic Union, was started by the American Turners, an athletic, cultural, and social organization founded by German immigrants in 1850. The school originally trained instructors for the athletic programs run by Turner societies, but by the late nineteenth century many of the school's graduates were teaching in public schools as school systems began adding physical education to their curriculum. The Normal College, which moved to Indianapolis in 1907, merged with Indiana University in 1941. In 1946 the school became a department within the Indiana University School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, then in 1971 became an autonomous school under its current name. Records include correspondence, minutes, faculty and student records, financial records, alumni records, publications, and other records.

The Athenaeum Turner organization was founded in 1851 as the Indianapolis Turngemeinde. This athletic and social organization was patterned on German clubs that had supported the 1848 revolutions that attempted to form Liberal republics in several European kingdoms. The men who established the Indianapolis Turngemeinde and the competing Indianapolis Socialistischer Turnverein (merged in 1852 to form the Indianapolis Socialistischer Turnegemiende) tried to create a community focus for the rapidly expanding immigrant population. The activist political backgrounds of many German immigrants led to a strong emphasis on the Turner idea of developing both a strong mind and strong body in order to better serve society. After the American Civil War, for which many Turners volunteered due to anti-slavery beliefs and a desire to demonstrate loyalty to their adopted nation, the reorganized and renamed Indianapolis Socialer Turnverein became the primary focus for German business and culture in the city. Certainly the German House (das Deutsches Haus), built between 1894 and 1898, was designed to serve as more than just a center for physical training since it contained a restaurant, theaters, and a number of meeting rooms. From the 1890s, the leaders of the Turner organization were also directors or important officers in dozens of prominent businesses and cultural organizations. This led to some overlap in the interaction between public, private, and political affairs in the German community of Indianapolis - and this is reflected in the collection. The outbreak of World War I and the anti-German sentiment which followed led to a renaming of the building (as the Athenaeum) and contributed to a decline in the importance of the Turnverein. The organization, now known as the Athenaeum Turners, experienced a revival during the 1950s and remained active into the 1960s, though its activities gradually became more social and less athletic. By the 1970s American acculturation and suburbanization resulted in a rapid decline in membership and financial stability and the near collapse of the Turner society. It currently exists solely as a German cultural organization. The records consist of constitutions and by-laws, board and committee minutes, correspondence, officer and committee reports, financial records, membership lists, event advertisements, brochures, newsletters and photographs.

This women's organization was founded by the Socialer Turnverein (Social Athletic Club) in 1876 as the Indianapolis Turn-Schwestern Verein. It was initially intended to support the activities of the Turnverein, and especially to promote and oversee the girls' athletic classes, and to help enlarge and preserve the Turner library. Within a few years the Turn Sisters became known as the Damenverein (Women's Club) des Socialer Turnverein and began to undertake broader responsibilities in the community. As with most German societies, membership declined during World War I and use of the German language was dropped. The organization revived with the merging of several societies during the 1930s and becomes known as the Women's Auxiliary. Membership increased again after World War II as their focus drifted away from a wartime role as a service organization and more towards social activities. The gradual decline of the Athenaeum Turners through the 1970s and 1980s also affected the Women's Auxiliary. In the 1990s the Damenverein name was restored to recognize the earlier German connections, and in recent years the very limited activities of the group have become more closely linked with their German-American cultural identity. The records consist of constitutions and by-laws, minutes, correspondence, financial records, committee reports, membership lists and directories, event advertisements and photographs.

Harry Allen Davis, Jr., Indiana artist and Herron School of Art professor, was born in Hillsboro, Indiana in 1914 and moved to Brownsburg, Indiana in 1920. In 1938, he graduated from the John Herron Art Institute and won the Prix de Rome in Painting. After studying at the American Academy in Rome and briefly teaching at Beloit College, he joined the Army in 1942 and was a combat artist in Europe in World War II. When the war was over, Davis took a position teaching drawing and painting at the Herron School of Art. There, he met Lois Irene Peterson from LaPorte, Indiana and the two married in 1947. They had two children together. Harry Davis was a professor at the Herron School of Art until his retirement in 1983. As an artist, he was known for his series of paintings featuring older American and more specifically, Hoosier, buildings and structures. Harry Davis died in 2006. The Harry and Lois Davis Papers consist mainly of Harry Davis's correspondence and exhibition files, as well as scrapbooks and news clippings about Harry and Lois Davis and about Herron faculty and alumni. Also included are a journal and travel documents from his time at the American Academy and a memoir from the war.