In the winter of 1891, Luther Gulick, head of the physical education department at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, persuaded a young instructor named James Naismith to create an indoor game that could be played during the winter between football and baseball seasons. This is why Springfield College is known as the "Birthplace of Basketball". Besides his seminal role in basketball history, Gulick was also known as the "father of physical education and recreation in the United States" and created the Springfield College triangle seal (Spirit-Mind-Body). Since the 1890s, Springfield College has been a hub for all things relating to Physical Education and has a wealth of Physical Education & Training materials.
Like Springfield College's YMCA Publications & Historical Sources, this area of the Rare Book Collection is nationally renowned. Examples of rare Physical Education & Training materials include periodicals like the Bulletin of Physical Education (1928-1933) and the Journal of Scientific Physical Training (1908-1955). They also include diverse monographs on exercise and training that would have been the core collections for Dr. Peter Karpovich's mid-20th century groundbreaking research in exercise physiology internationally known as 'Springfield College Studies'.
Size & Scope: 60 shelves, approximately 2,400 volumes. We collect Physical Education & Training material that relates to the College's history and curriculum. Since the College has a deep legacy in this field, we continue to grow this area of the collections, but tend to focus on material published before 1960.
