Coulter was a vaudeville strongman, author, and collector. As his vaudeville days came to a close, he moved into supporting and documenting competitive weightlifting. Along with George Jowett, he helped form the first weightlifting association in the United States (see the Coulter-Jowett Correspondence Finding Aid below), the American Continental Weight Lifting Association (ACWLA) and accumulated...
Terry Todd began collecting books and magazines in the field of physical culture as a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin in the early 1960s. He was encouraged in this effort by his weightlifting coach, Professor Roy J. McLean, who shared Todd’s love for the history of strength training. Professor McLean had accumulated...
Judy Gedney, a retired college professor, has been involved in powerlifting as a competitor and administrator since the late 1970s and has won many national and world championships and set many national and world records in the sport.
Eliason was a gym owner in the 1930s and 1940s, a writer, a collector, and a lifelong physical culturist and organic gardener who also promoted bodybuilding and weightlifting competitions in the New England area.
Boff, a longtime physical culturist and founder of the Association of Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen, was friends with many people involved in the field, including George F. Jowett and Joe Bonomo. He was also the most well-known winter bather during the middle part of the 20th century.
A Wichita Falls, Texas native, William B. Ward was an avid sports fan and collector of sports memorabilia. Reflected in the contents of this collection is Mr. Ward’s lifelong passion for all sports, but particularly those of Texas and California, the two states in which he lived. The Ward Book Library (searchable via the UT...
Albert Davis was a theater and sports enthusiast and an avid collector of theater and sports-related memorabilia. At the time of his death, his collection contained 100,000 photographs. This collection contains the sports photography portion of his collection and includes photographs and cabinet cards of such boxing and wrestling legends as John L. Sullivan, Jack...
Stout Jackson was a traveling strongman from Texas who toured the western US in the early part of the twentieth century, generally appearing in small towns and county fairs. He later settled in south Texas, designed and built several outdoor theaters and drive-in movies, and sometimes gave strength exhibitions.
Retired University of Missouri journalism professor and Bernarr Macfadden scholar, Taft collected an amazing array of research materials on Bernarr Macfadden.
