H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports

H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports is an archive and museum dedicated to the study and preservation of the world of physical culture.^[1] It is located at the University of Texas at Austin. Through the donations of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation and the Betty and Joe Weider Foundation,^[2] the Stark Center opened in 2009, providing access to the center's extensive collection of materials on weight training, bodybuilding, athletic conditioning, alternative medicine, and other forms of self-improvement. The collection, considered the largest of its kind,^[3] comprises thousands of books and magazines, an extensive photograph collection, correspondence files, posters, videotapes, films, and artifacts. The center's directors, Drs. Jan and Terry Todd, both former powerlifting athletes, are committed to preserving the history of physical culture.^[4]

Although the Stark Center's collection is rooted in the study of physical culture, it contains more than 4000 books about competitive sports, thousands of rare photographs of athletes, and several hundred magazine titles about sports, including full runs of such magazines as Sports Illustrated. The Stark Center holdings also include the 2500-volume Edmund Hoffman Golf collection, as well as photographs, artifacts and papers donated by professional golfers Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite, both alumni from the University of Texas. Another significant sub-collection is an alternative medicine library consisting of the personal libraries of Dr. Christopher Gian-Cursio, Dr. Jesse Mercer Gehman, and Dr. Herbert Shelton, all of whom were naturopathic physicians in the early 20th century. The Stark Center also owns a substantial collection of art, all of which illustrate the strong bond between physical culture and the art of the human form. One of the showpieces of this collection, and the symbol of the center, is the 10’6” plaster replica of the Farnese Hercules, known for its outstanding musculature.^[5]