Background Materials
name: label: Collection Photographer
content: Brooks, Warwick
label: Collection Collector
content: Coffin, Ernest Edwin
label: Collection Photographer
content: Steckel, Geo. (George), 1864-
label: Collection Creator
content: Falk, B. J. (Benjamin J.), 1853-1925
label: Collection Creator
content: Sandwina, Katie
label: Collection Creator
content: Weider, Joe (author)
label: Collection Photographer
content: Weston, Arthur
label: Collection Photographer
content: Sarony, Napoleon, 1821-1896
label: Collection Donor
content: Manhart, Harrison D., II
setName: label: See more items in
content: Ernest Edwin Coffin Collection
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1894-1958
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1152, Series 1
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: This series consists of personal materials documenting Ernest Coffin, his daughters, June and Marion Coffin, and general background information about strongmen.  There is some weight lifting and physical measurement data compiled by Coffin, both typescript and handwritten, detailing various records, such as two arm presses and two hand dead lift.  There are print advertisements for books, equipment, vaudeville shows, and physique photography related to strongmen. Many of the ads promote books and equipment about health and strength such as Sandow's grip dumb bells, A.G. Spalding and Brothers dumb bells, the Trevor continental chest expander, and the Terry "spring-way." Other ads promote places of health such as the Universal Institute of Physical Culture (England) with the relevant courses and apparatus. The bulk of the material consists of newspaper clippings about strongmen, especially Eugen Sandow, and other interests of Coffin such as animals and theatre.