Ten Years Strong

Join us as we celebrate the Ten Year Anniversary of the Stark Center.

Opening video courtesy of Sansom Media. 

As a precaution to help limit the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), The Stark Center is temporarily closing to visitors until further notice. Center staff will be working during this time and will happily respond to research requests during this period; please email (rather than phone) the Stark Center or the individual staff member you wish to reach. Please note that our digital collections, e-books, and the back issues of Iron Game History: The Journal of Physical Culture remain online and available to the public. Thank you for understanding. Please check back for updates and additional information. Stay Safe!
–Jan Todd, Stark Center Director

 

Welcome to the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports. The Stark Center is a library containing thousands of books and magazines related to sports, fitness, nutrition, and alternative medicine; an archive containing films, photography, and the personal papers of prominent athletes, coaches, writers, and educators; a digital resource; and, an exhibit space, featuring The Joe and Betty Weider Museum of Physical Culture.

COLLECTION SELECTION

Sig Klein in Formal Clothing
Collection in FocusBy
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Sig Klein in Formal Clothing

Sigmund Klein was one of the most fascinating, and indeed, successful physical culturists of the 1920s and 1930s. Operating a gym in New York, the same gym run by his father in law, Professor Atilla, Klein’s unique position in the fitness industry made him the envy of many. Not only was he incredibly strong and athletic, but he was part of physical culture royalty. Given the fact that he ran a gymnasium and was a weight trainer in his own right, many of the images we have of Sig tend to be him in workout clothes. This is what makes...

NEWS & UPDATES

It's a Good LifeBy
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Lessons from The Arnold Strongman Classic

On Monday, March 2, 2020 I met my graduate course, The History of the Sport Industry in America, at the Stark Center to talk about a series of readings they’d been assigned that dealt with the business of strength.  They were asked to read an article Ben Pollack and I wrote about 1950s gym-chain magnate Vic Tanny, several chapters from Dominic Morais’ dissertation about Bob Hoffman’s marketing tactics to promote the York Barbell Company and, finally, a long essay that Terry wrote about The Arnold Strongman Classic (ASC) in an anthology called Philosophical Considerations of Physical Strength that he also...

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.  Click on the images below for more information.

Browse the Complete Journal Archive

DON’T MISS

The Stark Center is committed to making its resources available to the public.  To that end, we are creating a variety of digital projects, including flipping books and interactive exhibits.

 

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

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