Clippings from the Ottley Coulter collection cover a variety of topics such as the circus, strongwomen, strongmen, child athletics, posing, equipment, gyms, and more, dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. Sources of these clippings include magazines such as Strength, Physical Culture, Health and Strength, National Police Gazette, and others. The clippings are unprocessed, but...
Digital Collections
Anti-Vaccination Pamphlets from the Jesse Mercer Gehman Collection, ca. 1900-1946
This collection of pamphlets reflects the diverse and often fervent opposition to vaccination and public health regulation in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Drawn from the Jesse Mercer Gehman Collection, these publications exemplify the rhetoric of medical dissent at a formative moment in American public health history. Jesse Mercer...
1960 Bodybuilder Calendar
Published by Strength & Health Magazine, this calendar features many of the greatest Mr. Americas and Mr. Canadas of the era. Each month features a different bodybuilder posing with a photo and stats for every month. To view this issue in PDF format, check out Mr. America Bodybuilder Calendar on The Strongman Project.
Sport in the Soviet Union
The Moscow Dynamos, football champions of the U.S.S.R., visited Britain after WWII. Their successful tour, in which they defeated Cardiff City, the Arsenal, and drew with both Chelsea and the Glasgow Rangers, created in Britain a significant interest in Soviet sport. Physical culture and sport in the Soviet Union has always been a government-sponsored affair...
1960 Weightlifter Calendar
Published by Strength & Health Magazine, this calendar features many of the greatest weightlifters of the era. Each month features a different weightlifter with a photo and stats for every month. To view this issue in PDF format, check out 1960 Weightlifting Calendar on The Strongman Project.
How to Box
Joe Louis Barrow, known as “The Brown Bomber,” was arguably the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. His career spanned from 1934 to 1951 and he reigned as the Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1937 until his temporary retirement in 1949. During that time, he successfully defended 25 consecutive title defenses, a record for...
Weight Lifting
The Chicago Park District Recreation Division published this Weightlifting Instruction Manual originally in 1939 and followed it up with a second printing in 1940, and then with this third printing in 1950. Norbert B. Grueber, the Editor for Body Builder Magazine, published this manual under the supervision of the Division of Recreation of the Chicago...
Stars of the Mat
The Stars of the Mat booklet is part of the Ottley Coulter Collection. Ottley was an American strongman, circus performer, weightlifter, wrestler, and police officer. He was a co-founder of the American Continental Weightlifting Association, and the author of a book about strength athletics. The booklet features well known bodybuilders and wrestlers and contains photos...
1913 University of Texas Interscholastic Championship Track Meet
The University of Texas has hosted many interscholastic championship events over the years in every sport imaginable. This booklet, generously donated by Waneen Spirduso, is from the 1913 interscholastic championship track meet for the state of Texas. This was a massive event attended by public and private high schools and held at Clark Field on...








