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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.