A strong mind in a strong body

the long version

Much of the library literature pertaining to early American library development ignores or minimizes library development and support for libraries within ethnic groups. The records of such groups are often not in English, frequently handwritten, and generally not accessible. The archives of the American Turners and some of the individual Turner groups provide a unique opportunity to study primary materials related to an influential and large German-American organization. A close examination of the role of libraries in the American Turners provided an important case study for the role of libraries and reading in ethnic groups during a period of major immigration to the United States, 1850 to 1918.