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.
