Sentence:  Nor is it an accident that baseball , growing into the national game in the last 75 years , has become a microcosm of American life , that learned <WSD>societies</WSD> such as the American Folklore Society and the American Historical Association were founded in the 1880's , or that courses in American literature , American civilization , American anything have swept our school and college curricula . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a formal association of people with similar interests