Joyce Sports Research Collection Manuscripts

Around 1750 items, including manuscripts, printed ephemera, clippings, and publications. The athletic papers and attendant printed matter of Chicagoan Fred L. Steers (1887-1967), deriving from his years of administrative service in the Central Association of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States, the national AAU, and the American (later United States) Olympic Committee. Steers was active in AAU circles for most of his adult life, serving terms as president of the Central Association and vice-president at the national level. His AAU papers include correspondence, records, and AAU publications, mostly dating from the mid-1920s to the mid-1960s. His Olympic papers include substantial materials on the Summer Games of 1928 (Amsterdam), 1932 (Los Angeles), and 1936 (Berlin), all of which Steers attended as manager of the U.S. women's track and field team. MSSP 5000-1

This collection consists primarily of printed material and ephemera related to the first four Gay Games / Gay Olympic Games: San Francisco (1982), San Francisco (1986), Vancouver (1990), and New York City (1994). The materials—including programs, guidebooks, and other publications—document the athletes, the sporting competitions, other events associated with the Gay Games, and fundraising for the events. Formats include. programs, books, posters, advertising fliers, memorabilia, sheet music, and calendars. MSSP 10070

The Gay Rodeo Ephemera Collection contains printed material, ephemera, and posters related to Gay Rodeos from the 1970s through the early 21st century. The collection documents gay rodeos on the west coast, in the interior west, in the upper midwest, in the southeast, in Texas, and in New York. Formats include programs, ephemera, fliers, and posters. MSSP 10128

The Mae Faggs ephemera collection consists of printed materials and ephemeral items collected by African American women’s track and field athlete Mae Faggs in the 1950s and 1960s. The collection contains items related to her college career at Tennessee A&I University, an Historically Black College and University; items documenting her participation in track events as a member of the United States national team, including the 1952 Helsinki Summer Olympics, the 1955 Pan American Games in Mexico City, and several American women’s national track championships; and materials related to her high school teaching career. Formats include printed material, ephemera, programs, guidebooks, maps, and a photograph. MSSP 10115

This collection includes 438 photographs of international, state, and unidentified wheelchair sports competitions and unidentified wheelchair athletes in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Pictured competitions include the second biennial 1969 Pan American Wheelchair Games held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the 1972 Paralympic Games held in Heidelberg, Germany, the 1973 and 1974 third and fourth Ohio Wheelchair Games competitions, and several other unidentified competitions. Many different sports are documented in the collection including track and field, table tennis, billiards, bowling, swimming, archery, basketball, lawn bowling, fencing, and weightlifting. The collection includes images of opening ceremonies, medal ceremonies, and awards banquets. There are also candid images of athletes relaxing, talking, resting, and socializing between events. The photographs were taken by an unknown photographer or unknown photographers, and the individual athletes are not identified. MSSP 10109

3 containers plus 1 flat storage container; 3 linear feet. Manuscript drafts and research materials for the unpublished book "Sports and Pastimes of the Presidents," by Jack Level of Elmhurst, New York. Level worked on the project most intensively in the late 1950s and early 60s. MSSP 5005 (GEN945)

This collection consists of catalogs advertising sporting goods and athletic products. Many items are general purpose catalogs that offer products for a wide range of athletic activities. Other specialized catalogs cover topics like outdoors recreation, fishing, playground equipment, outdoor lighting, boxing,football practice equipment, and other subjects. Most catalogs include product descriptions, pricing information, and illustrations (sometimes in color) of the products for sale. Catalogs from companies like LL Bean, Spalding, Wilson, Rawlings, Wright & Ditson, Everlast, MacGregor, Bike Web, and others are included in the collection. Some titles in the collection, like Spalding Sports Show, Rawlings Trade Digest, and Bike Web Sports Trail are more like trade magazines than catalogs and feature stories, articles, photographs, and cartoons/illustrations alongside information about products for sale. Publications in the collection cover the late-19th century to the mid-20th century. Materials include published catalogs. EPH 5063

Twenty-five advertising promotional cards, measuring 5 by 7 inches, published by the Milo Bar-bell Company, c. 1918. The cards feature weightlifters and strongmen in various poses, showing their muscles or exercising with various barbells and dumbbells. Many of the cards feature men posing while wearing little clothing. The original mailing envelope advertises the Milo Bar-bell Company, but none of the individual promotional cards reference the Milo Bar-bell Company. MSSP 10085

Posters demonstrating at-home workout techniques for men and women using everyday objects. Each poster is titled “Building Physical Power, The Science of Acquiring Strength Through Spinal Development.” The posters were published by the United Schools of Physical Culture, Executive Offices: 915 Flatiron Building, New York. Each poster features a model demonstrating poses instructed by Bernar McFadden. Each poster is copyrighted 1909 by E. R. Du Mont. MSSP 10089

British-made patriotic manual dexterity marble maze board game using football (soccer) imagery to simulate trench warfare on the western front in World War One. The object of the game is to maneuver a small metal ball around a recessed playing board and avoid holes distributed around the course. Players win the game by navigating the ball around the course and into the goal which is guarded by a larger hole. Most of the holes on the course are accompanied by caricatures of German military commanders: with “The Kaiser” as the goal mouth. The game board is encased in a wooden frame under glass. MSSP 10092

1 vol., 15 cm., 25 leaves, with 31 photographs. A collection of 31 miscellaneous photographic portraits and group portraits of persons in lawn tennis attire, probably dating from ca. 1885 to ca. 1905. Twenty-nine of the photographs are ferrotypes; two are albumen prints (the latter from German studios). The subjects, who vary from image to image, are unidentified; the collection appears to have been artificially assembled. The photographs have been inserted in a period album, possibly by a modern collector. MSSP 5001-1-B.

1 document (3 pages). A prospectus for a company, capitalized at 25, "to lay down a Bowling Alley in the School Room Market Place, Abingdon" (then located in the county of Berkshire, England). MSSP 5002-1.

1 vol., 21 cm., 82 leaves, with 119 pages of manuscript in Jewett's hand; 2 enclosures. A diary recording the experiences at the 1936 Olympic Summer Games of Frank Baldwin Jewett, Jr. (1917-1986), a member of the United States yachting team. The yachting events were held at Kiel, Germany; Jewett piloted the American entry in the monotype class, finishing ninth over seven heats. The diary runs to some 15,000 words, with entries dating from 7 July to 18 August 1936. It also includes pen drawings by Jewett, and autographs of many of his competitors. MSSP 5003-1-B to MSSP 5003-2.

1 vol., 21 cm., 34 leaves, with 62 pages of manuscript. A humorous manuscript account of the doings of Battledore Club No. 1 of Bridgeport, Connecticut, whose dedication to the parlor game of battledore and shuttlecock is made the stuff of comedy. The manuscript is in the form of a club record book, with membership, constitution and by-laws, accounts of meetings, and other content (including a long epic entitled "Lay of the last Battledore"). The book is illustrated throughout with ink sketches that amplify the volume's comic effect. The game was a precursor of badminton; players with racquets (battledores) batted the shuttlecock back and forth as many times as possible without allowing it to hit the floor. MSSP 5004-1.

1 vol., 14 x 18 cm., 28 leaves, with 81 photographic prints tipped in. This album assembled by Ruth Fay McLean (b. 1891) of Toledo, Ohio includes 34 images taken at the Olympic Summer Games of 1912, held in Stockholm. McLean and her party crossed the Atlantic on the SS Lapland prior to attending the games, whose opening ceremonies were on 6 July. Among the images are portraits and action shots relating to events in tennis, gymnastics, shooting, diving, swimming, and, most notably, athletics. Some are souvenir photos (including real-photo postcards) and some are vernacular photos taken by McLean's party. There are also many photos of the voyage on the Lapland. MSSP 5006-1-B.

2 vols., 15 x 20 cm., 48 and 48 leaves, with 97 and 94 photographs tipped in. A pair of vernacular photograph albums probably assembled by John H. Senior (1890-1948) of Philadelphia. Senior emigrated from England with his parents in 1894; in 1910 he was working as a draftsman in a machine shop. Many of the prints (which range in size from 2 x 3 inches to 4 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches) bear identifying information and/or dates; a few indicate they were taken by Senior. Most depict either scenic views of the country around Philadelphia or the recreational activities of Senior and his peers: camping, hiking, fishing, swimming, and a host of athletic sports, especially track and field. Senior and his friends were members of a Boys Club track team. There are also six views of the 1910 Penn Relays. MSSP 5007-1-B to MSSP 5007-2-B.