Welcome to the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports.

The Stark Center is a research center housed within the Department of Kinesiology & Health Education.  We are a unique combination of library, archive, and gallery/exhibit space.

An Unexpected Pleasure: Kissing the Ground in Equilibrium—A Search for the Origins of the Pushup

One of the things I enjoy most about the Stark Center are the requests we often get for information about some aspect of the history of physical culture. Most of those requests are handled by our incredible Stark Center staff but every now and then a request will make its way to my inbox and I find myself so intrigued that I end up doing research that wasn’t planned because the question made me curious too. This past Sunday was one of those days. I got an unexpected email from Denis Blinov, whom I’ve never met. “May I ask if you...

Dr. Charles Stocking, Michael Joseph Gross, Martins Licis, and Dr. Jan Todd look at an artifact on a wood table in the Stark Center reading room.

What do a Journalist, Two Professors, and a Couple of Strongmen Have in Common?

Reflections on the Stronger Release Party by Rachel Ozerkevich On a recent Tuesday afternoon, I found myself surrounded by paintings and sculptural reproductions of historical strength heroes, chatting with one of the strongest men in the world. We were discussing the challenges of teaching visual culture to undergraduate students in sport history classes, but I was also getting useful pointers on how to increase my back squat—a lift I’ve been working to improve for nearly a decade (it turns out that my back is likely too weak, and I need to improve my confidence). I’m at work right now, I...

Browse the Complete Journal Archive

The Stark Center features collections from around the world related to all aspects of physical culture and sports.

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