American Turners National Convention Minutes

The national convention is the chief legislative body of the American Turners. The convention elects national officers, selects locations for national athletic competitions, approves changes in the Turners' principles and statutes, and establishes the general policies to be carried out by the National Council. The conventions met annually from 1850 to 1860, then biennially beginning in 1960. The minutes are in German through 1921 (both English-language and German-language versions were published in 1925 and 1927), but the minutes from 1854 to 1872 were translated into English in the 1940s by Henry W. Kumpf of the Buffalo, New York Turners. The digitization of the minutes were funded in part by the Hoyt-Reichmann Chair in German-American Studies.