Basketball, which began as a game invented to occupy young, energetic boys within the confines of a gymnasium on rainy days, has come to be one of the most popular sports in American culture.
Basketball: Power in Play, a display of sports photographs from the Harry Ransom Center’s New York Journal-American collection, captures some of the key components of the game from the 1940s through the 1960s.
From September 18 through December 9, 2012, visitors will be able to view images depicting various perspectives on the game such as training and technique, women in basketball, wheelchair basketball, the Harlem Globetrotters, and images of incredible shots and blunders.
The 32 black-and-white photographs in the exhibition come from the New York Journal-American, which was published from 1937 to 1968. Soon after the newspaper’s demise, the Ransom Center gained ownership of the paper’s approximately two million prints and one million negatives. Many of the photographs in the display show original crop and edit marks used in the course of publication.
Geared toward sports enthusiasts, the rich history and engaging narratives embodied in the photo captions will be sure to entertain and amuse.
The display is one of several exhibitions and events across The University of Texas at Austin campus this fall capturing the spirit and history of basketball from its beginnings in a Massachusetts YMCA to the modern NBA.
Courtesy of Suzanne Deal Booth and David G. Booth, the University’s Blanton Museum of Art will be presenting James Naismith’s “Original Rules of Basket Ball,” the 1891 document that outlines the 13 original rules of the game. The rules will be exhibited alongside the works of contemporary artist Paul Pfeiffer in The Rules of Basketball: Works by Paul Pfeiffer and James Naismith’s Original Rules of Basket Ball, running through January 13, 2013.
The H. J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports will host a symposium during the fall 2012 semester about the history and cultural significance of basketball.
Former undergraduate intern Rachel Platis selected the content for the Ransom Center’s display.
The materials are on view in the Ransom Center’s lobby during exhibition gallery hours and in the third-floor Director’s Gallery, Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Please click the thumbnails below to view full-size images.
Sam says
Nice photo of the Shimer College athletes! It should perhaps be noted that — at the time — Shimer’s team held the NCAA record for longest losing streak. (A Great Books college now located in Chicago, Shimer no longer has a basketball team, and its record has since been eclipsed by even less athletic schools.)
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