Today in History: Olympic Games
Today in History–July 30–the Library of Congress features the Olympic Games, which opened on this day in 1932 in Los Angeles, California. It was the tenth Olympiad of the modern era and the first to have an Olympic Village where athletes were housed and fed. Learn more by visiting the Today in History section, then click the links below to access more primary sources and stories related to the modern Olympic games.
Olympic game images from the Bain Collection (majority from 1912)
1928 Amsterdam Olympic image set
1932 Los Angeles Olympic image set
Images of early Olympics gathered from published books and journals
Olympic Games: Finding Pictures in the Prints & Photographs Division
Olympics: Topics in Chronicling America select articles and timeline
1908 front-page newspaper coverage of Olympic athletes
Olympic games historical newspaper coverage
Historical periodical articles
- The Old Olympic Games The Century, Volume 51, Issue 6, Apr 1896
- The New Olympic Games The Century, Volume 51, Issue 6, Apr 1896
- The Revival Of The Olympic Games Scribner’s, Volume 19, Issue 4, April, 1896
The Olympic Games at Athens by Sullivan, James Edward (1906)
“International Olympic Games“ by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Industrial Arts and Expositions (1911)
Audio and video programs related to the Olympic games American Archive of Public Broadcasting
Black Champions interviews American Archive of Public Broadcasting
Modern U.S. legislation related to the Olympic games
Winter Olympic Games 2002 Web Archive
Teaching Resources
- Bringing the Olympic Games into Your Classroom with Primary Sources Teaching with the Library
- Memories of an Olympic Protest: John Carlos, Oral History, and the 1968 Mexico City Games Teaching with the Library
- Guided Primary Source Analysis: Jesse Owens
Library articles & blog posts
- The 1936 Olympics Library of Congress Magazine July/August 2016
- African Trail Blazers in the Past Summer Olympics 4 Corners of the World
- Capturing and Preserving the Olympic Spirit Via Web Archiving The Signal
- Curling: Right on the Button Picture This
- He Shoots, He Scores! A Love of Winter Games Inside Adams
- Japan and the Olympics Before the 1964 Tokyo Games 4 Corners of the World
- The Laws Behind the London Olympics In Custodia Legis
- Laws Behind the Rio Olympics In Custodia Legis
- Let the Games Begin! Timeless Stories from the Library
- London Olympic Games Then and Now: 1908 & 2012 Inside Adams
- Music to Win Gold Medals By In The Muse
- An Olympian Effort: The Story of Jesse Owens in Library of Congress Primary Sources Teaching with the Library
- Olympic Gold: Harrison Dillard and Military Athletes Timeless Stories from the Library
- Olympic Promotional Ads Inspire through Poetry From the Catbird Seat
- An Olympic Tug of War Picture This
- Paris Olympic Games Then and Now: 1924 & 2024 Minerva’s Kaleidoscope
- Pindar, Poetry, and the Olympics From the Catbird Seat
- Post-Olympics Depression: No Need! In The Muse
- Regulating the Winter Olympics in Russia In Custodia Legis
- Traditional Sports for Unity Folklife Today
- William H. Dillard Wins Olympic Gold Folklife Today
- Women of Winter Sports: The First U.S. Olympic Ski Medalists Headlines & Heroes
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