The Joyce Sports Research Collection:
Boxing
What follows is a guide to some of the more significant boxing related holdings in the University Libraries of Notre Dame. Its purpose is to provide researchers with a convenient overview of available resources in this subject area; it does not aspire to be comprehensive. Some types of materials, primarily monographs and a few annual and periodical titles, are included in the University Libraries Online Catalog, and may be found in various locations throughout Hesburgh Library, as detailed on the individual catalog record. Other materials, including most annuals and periodicals, programs, and special collections, have no catalog records; these items are held in the Rare Books Unit of the Department of Special Collections, 102 Hesburgh Library. Such items may be consulted in the reading room of the Department, from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. weekdays. Researchers interested in materials specifically pertaining to the history of boxing at Notre Dame should contact University Archives, 607 Hesburgh Library.
Title or collection descriptions on this page are linked to records, inventories, and other appropriate types of finding aid. The dates that follow many of the annual and periodical titles on this page indicate the span of years a given title was published; available holdings are indicated in the linked finding aid. Questions concerning the materials on the page may be directed to the Curator of the Joyce Sports Research Collection, George Rugg, 102 Hesburgh Library.
Monographs
- The Joyce Collection's boxing monographs (Library of Congress GV 1115-1139) may be found in two primary locations. The upper floors of Hesburgh Library contain approximately 450 titles; these are available for circulation. The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, 102 Hesburgh Library, contains another 250 older or scarcer titles. All the aforementioned may be searched in the University of Notre Dame Libraries' Online Catalog.
Annuals - guide format
- Near-complete holdings of The Ring Record Book (New York: 1942-1988). Conceived and compiled (until 1972) by Ring Magazine publisher Nat Fleischer, this was the most comprehensive of all annual reference sources on boxing. Features appeared and disappeared over the years, but the book's core remained its lifetime records of 1) active professional fighters the world over, and 2) former champions (and other prominent fighters) in all weight divisions. The book functions as both guide to the preceding year's events and as reference tool treating the full history of professional boxing; the typical edition runs upwards of 800 pages.
Annuals - magazine format
- Holdings of various magazine-format annuals devoted to boxing, including the historical publication Boxiana Review (Philadelphia: c1963-76) and True Magazine's Boxing Yearbook (Greenwich, CT: 1952-66).
Periodicals
- Strong holdings of The National Police Gazette (New York: 1845-1932, 1933- ). In its heyday under publisher/editor Richard Kyle Fox in the last quarter of the nineteenth century , the Gazette was America's leading illustrated journal of the lurid and sensational, focusing on crime, sex, the theater - and sports, especially boxing. Fox came to realize the potential of boxing for increasing circulation through his coverage of the Paddy Ryan-Joe Goss fight of 30 May 1880. He soon became the ring's foremost promoter, defining weight classifications, offering championship belts, and contributing greatly to boxing's new legitimacy. The Gazette is of decreasing interest after 1900, as sales declined and its journalistic techniques and subject matter were selectively appropriated by the New York dailies. Microform and paper.
- Complete holdings of The Ring magazine (New York: 1922- ). Few sporting periodicals are as closely identified with one individual as is The Ring with Nathaniel S. ("Nat") Fleischer (1887-1972). Fleischer founded The Ring in 1922 just as boxing was undergoing a tremendous surge in popularity; he remained as editor and publisher for fifty years, during which time the magazine earned recognition as the most authoritative voice in the sport, the "Bible of Boxing." Fleischer editorialized constantly on issues he regarded as crucial to the future of boxing - corruption, the impact of television, fighter safety - and the influence he exerted must be regarded as beneficial. Another characteristic feature of the magazine was its rankings of fighters in all divisions, rankings which became highly influential on matchmaking. After Fleischer's death the magazine struggled to find a voice, and even ceased publication for a time in 1989. Paper and microform.
- Scattered holdings of a number of Mexican periodicals treating boxing, including Box y Lucha (Mexico City) and K.O. (Mexico City).
Periodicals - Pulps
- Holdings of Fight Stories (New York: 1928-52), a quarterly collection of popular fiction and other boxing pieces.
Programs
- A collection of 125 professional boxing programs, 1908-1996. Most of these programs represent fights of some significance; many are from title fights, in various weight divisions.
Special Collections
- The Harry E. Winkler Photographic Collection includes more than 7,500 different boxing related images in various formats. Winkler was a longtime Los Angeles area fight figure and California correspondent for The Ring magazine from 1939 to 1953. He is best remembered, however, for his extensive collection of boxing photographs, many of which were acquired by the University Libraries in 1977. Highlights of the collection include close to 4000 4 x 5 inch glass negatives, most of which date from the 1920s and 30s. These are typically posed portraits, of individuals or groups; virtually no action scenes are included. Among the fighters best represented (by more than 30 plates) are: Sgt. Sammy Baker, Newsboy Brown, Tony Canzoneri, Bert Colima, Speedy Dado, Jack Dempsey, Joe Dundee, Jackie Fields, Ace Hudkins, Les Kennedy, Fidel LaBarba, Jimmy McLarnin, Tod Morgan, Tommy O'Brien, Lee Ramage, Baby Sal Sorio, and Mickey Walker. The Winkler Collection also includes close to 1000 4 x 5 inch and 8 x 10 inch film base portrait negatives; most of these date from the 1940s and 50s, while some are second-generation negatives of late nineteenth and early twentieth century prints. There are also over 1500 different 8 x 10 inch portrait photographs to which no negatives in the collection correspond. For the most part, the portraits in the Winkler Collection are of boxers who fought professionally in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. Also in the collection are over 1000 4 x 5 inch film base negatives (with contact prints) showing fight action; most of the bouts involved were held in the San Francisco Bay area in the late 1940s. The collection also includes a proportionately small number of images of professional wrestlers. A database to Winkler Collection materials is currently in preparation; an exhibit of portrait negatives entitled "Selections from the Harry E. Winkler Collection of Boxing Photographs" is now accessible on this website.
- A collection of 74 scrapbooks, most 10 x 11.5 inches, on professional (and some amateur) boxing. The scrapbooks consist of clippings dating from the 1920s through the 1970s; sources include Detroit daily newspapers, The National Police Gazette,and a variety of other weekly and monthly magazines. Citations are seldom present. The collection is divided into several roughly chronological, multi-volume series. Twenty-one volumes focus exclusively on the heavyweight division 1935-1975, with an emphasis on Joe Louis (1914-1981) and Muhammad Ali (1942- ). Another series of forty-five volumes, entitled "Odds and Ends on Boxing," treats events in all weight classifications, 1928-1975, with an emphasis on feature articles and retrospective or topical material. The scrapbooks average 70 leaves, with clippings r. and v. Gift of the University of Detroit.
- A collection of 41 scrapbooks, most around 10.5 x 7.25 inches, on professional boxing. The books consist almost exclusively of articles and photographs clipped from various newspapers and periodicals dating from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, though some of the material is retrospective in content. Sources include both daily newspapers and boxing periodicals; relatively few citations are included. Almost all the scrapbooks are devoted to individuals, including many of the notable professional fighters of the first half of the twentieth century; clippings are usually chronologically arranged. Scrapbooks average forty leaves, with clippings r. and v.
- A collection of 217 individual periodical issues, 1962-2002, whose covers feature Muhammad Ali. About sixty different titles are represented, including boxing magazines, general sports magazines, and general interest magazines. Most also have substantial content on Ali. Location: HESB Special Coll (Sports).
