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Guide to the Ernest Edwin Coffin Collection

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Guide to the Ernest Edwin Coffin Collection Guide to the Ernest Edwin Coffin Collection NMAH.AC.1152 Alison Oswald Archives Center, National Museum of American History P.O. Box 37012 Suite 1100, MRC 601 Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 [email protected] http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Arrangement..................................................................................................................... 2 Biographical...................................................................................................................... 2 Scope and Contents........................................................................................................ 2 Names and Subjects ...................................................................................................... 2 Container Listing ............................................................................................................. 4 Series 1: Background Materials, 1894-1958............................................................ 4 Series 2: Correspondence, 1902-1954.................................................................... 7 Series 3: Publications, 1926-03-1955-01............................................................... 14 Series 4: Photographs, 1889-1952........................................................................ 21 Ernest Edwin Coffin Collection NMAH.AC.1152 Collection Overview Repository: Archives Center, National Museum of American History Title: Ernest Edwin Coffin Collection Identifier: NMAH.AC.1152 Date: 1889-1954 Creator: Brooks, Warwick (Photographer) Coffin, Ernest Edwin (Collector) Steckel, Geo. (George), 1864- (Photographer) Falk, B. J. (Benjamin J.), 1853-1925 Sandwina, Katie Weider, Joe (author) Weston, Arthur (Photographer) Sarony, Napoleon, 1821-1896 (Photographer) Manhart, Harrison D., II (Donor) Extent: 11.5 Cubic feet (26 boxes) Language: Collection is in English. Some materials in French. Summary: The collection documents Eugen Sandow and other bodybuilders through correspondence and photographs. Administrative Information Acquisition Information The collection was donated to the Archives Center by Dan Manhart in 2009. Provenance The collection was assembled by Ernest Edwin Coffin, a collector of Eugen Sandow memorabilia. Separated Materials Materials in the Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life). The Division of Culture and the Arts holds hand weights, a cut-out, and a dumbbell belonging to Eugen Sandow. See accession #2001.0179. Processing Information Collection processed by Alison Oswald, archivist, 2019. Preferred Citation Ernest Edwin Coffin Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Restrictions Collection is open for research. Page 1 of 24 Ernest Edwin Coffin Collection NMAH.AC.1152 Conditions Governing Use Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions. Biographical Ernest Edwin Coffin (1898-1954) was a California amateur bodybuilder, and weightlifter and collector of bodybuilding memorabilia, especially on the subject of Eugen Sandow. Coffin considered himself the world's expert on "Sandowania" and spent over 40 years writing and collecting memorabilia about Sandow as well as other strongmen such as Joe Weider, Milo Steinborn, and Katie Sandwina. Born Frederich Muller (1867-1925) in Konigsberg, Prussia, Muller emigrated to England in 1889 and become a citizen in 1906. Muller adopted the stage name of Eugen Sandow and ran several schools of physical culture, performed, lectured, and wrote about strength amd mental and physical health. Sandow toured the United States in 1893 with his manager, Florenz Ziegfeld, the "Follies" showman. Sandow's first American appearance was at the World's Fair in Chicago where he was an instant success. Ziegfeld marketed Sandow as "the perfect man," and "the modern Hercules." Sandow used his popularity to market books, a magazine (Physical Culture), and exercise equipment. Scope and Contents The collection contains original and copy photographs of Eugen Sandow and other bodybuilders and actors, by well known photographers Warwick Brooks, Napoleon Sarony, Benjamin J. Falk, George Steckel, and others; correspondence with well-known bodybuilders such as Joe Weider and Katie Sandwina; and periodicals and books about Sandow. Arrangement The collection is divided into four series. Series 1: Background Materials, 1894-1958 Series 2: Correspondence, 1902-1954 Series 3: Publications, 1926-03-1955-01 Series 4: Photographs, 1889-1952 Names and Subject Terms This collection is indexed in the online catalog of the Smithsonian Institution under the following terms: Subjects: Bodybuilding Books Modelling Periodicals Physical education and training Page 2 of 24 Ernest Edwin Coffin Collection NMAH.AC.1152 Types of Materials: Articles Correspondence Glass plate negatives Pamphlets Photographs -- 19th century Photographs -- 20th century Scrapbooks -- 20th century Names: Sandow, Eugen, 1867-1925 World's Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.) Page 3 of 24 Series 1: Background Materials Ernest Edwin Coffin Collection NMAH.AC.1152 Container Listing Series 1: Background Materials, 1894-1958 Scope and This series consists of personal materials documenting Ernest Coffin, his daughters, June Contents: 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. Box 1, Folder 1 Ernest Coffin, personal , 1940, 1945 Box 1, Folder 2 Ernest Coffin, divorce papers, 1946, 1950 Box 1, Folder 3 June and Marion Coffin, notes on Sandow, 1933 Box 1, Folder 4 Marion Coffin, composition notebook, 1935 Box 1, Folder 5 Questionnaires about strongmen, 1934-1944 Box 1, Folder 6 Weight lifter biographies, men, undated Box 1, Folder 7 Weight lifting data for women, 1930s Box 26, Folder 3 Weightlifting data, undated Box 1, Folder 8 Karl Swobada (strongman), biographical notes, undated Box 1, Folder 9 Weight lifting data and body measurement data for men), undated Box 1, Folder 10 Ernest Coffin notes [for manuscript?], 1925-1930s Box 1, Folder 11 Advertisements for books, equipment and strongmen shows, 1902-1939 Box 1, Folder 12 Miscellaneous ephemera, 1941, undated Box 23, Folder 1-9; Scrapbook about Eugen Sandow, 1930s Notes: Contains primarily photographs of Eugen Sandow and some Box 24, Folder 1 typescript materials. Box 1, Folder 13 Clippings, 1894 Page 4 of 24 Series 1: Background Materials Ernest Edwin Coffin Collection NMAH.AC.1152 Box 1, Folder 14 Clippings, 1919-1920 Box 1, Folder 15 Clippings, 1923-1926 Box 1, Folder 16 Clippings, 1927-1929 Box 1, Folder 17 Clippings, 1930-1931 Box 1, Folder 18 Clippings, 1932-1934 Box 26, Folder 4 Clippings, 1933-1936 Box 1, Folder 19 Clippings, 1935 Notes: Includes a Ziegfield Follies brochure featturing Mrs. Florenz Ziegfeld (nee Billie Burke). Box 1, Folder 20 Clippings, 1936 Box 2, Folder 1 Clippings, 1937 Box 2, Folder 2 Clippings, 1938-1939 Box 20, Folder 2 Clippings, 1930-1940 Box 2, Folder 3 Clippings, 1940-1942 Box 2, Folder 4 Clippings, 1943-1945 Box 2, Folder 5 Clippings, 1946-1949 Box 2, Folder 6 Clippings, 1958 Box 2, Folder 7 Clippings, undated Box 2, Folder 8 Clippings about strongmen, 1925-1941 Box 2, Folder 9-10 Clippings about animals, 1926-1954 Box 2, Folder 11 Clippings about Ernest Coffin, 1920s-1930s Box 2, Folder 12 Clippings about Eugen Sandow, 1901, undated Box 20, Folder 1 Cloth bag, undated Notes: Presumably belonged to George Steckel. Box 27 Keys, stamp, small box and printing block (with image of Eugen Sandow) Notes: Items belonged to Ernest Coffin. The stamp (From the Personal Collection of Ernest Edwin Coffin) was used by Coffin to mark items he purchased. The small printing block for offset Page 5 of 24 Series 1: Background Materials Ernest Edwin Coffin Collection NMAH.AC.1152 lithography contains a portrait of Eugen Sandow used on Coffin's stationery. Map-folder 1 Sandow's Illustrated Chart of Home Exercises 1 Poster (21.5" x 35") Return to Table of Contents Page 6 of 24 Series 2: Correspondence Ernest Edwin Coffin Collection NMAH.AC.1152 Series 2: Correspondence, 1902-1954 Scope and The correspondence is divided into two subseries, Subseries 2.1: Alphabetical and Contents: Subseries 2.2: Chronological. The correspondence is primarily between Ernest Coffin and other strongmen/bodybuilders and collectors and admirers
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