The Goethe Society of North America (GSNA) was founded in December 1979 in San Francisco as a non-profit organization dedicated to the encouragement of research on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832; pronunciation here) and his age. The impact of the work of the Society is considerable and demonstrates that in its relatively brief career it has become a major forum for constructive research within the international community of scholars of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century.

You can read more here about the history of the GSNA.

The Goethe Society has allied organization status with the Modern Language Association (MLA), the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS), and the German Studies Association (GSA). Since 1982 the Goethe Society has published the Goethe Yearbook, which has become a respected organ of eighteenth-century studies in diverse disciplines and which is recognized as a vital compendium of current research in its articles and its extensive review section. The Goethe Yearbook is distributed free to all paid-up members of the GSNA — see Membership on how to become a member.

Since 2006 the Goethe Society has been sponsoring a book series published by Bucknell University Press. The goal of this series is to publish innovative research that contextualizes the “Age of Goethe,” whether within the fields of literature, history (including art history and history of science), philosophy, art, music, or politics.

Every three years, the Society holds an international conference. The Society also tracks North American Goethe dissertations dating back to 1886 and regularly publishes a newsletter.