Now for Berlin in 1916 - CARLI Digital Collections Featured Image

The one-off in SIUE’s aptly-named digital collection of soccer guides published by Spalding (of sporting goods fame) is a guide to the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. The editor of the guide was James E. Sullivan, one of the founders of the Amateur Athletic Union and an influential player in the modern revival of the Olympic Games. Tucked away on page 245 of this guide is a one-page essay by Sullivan, anticipating the Games of the VI Olympiad to be held in Berlin in 1916.

Of course, as anyone with an elementary knowledge of 20th-century world history is aware, in the summer of 1914 a little skirmish arose in Europe, throwing a wrench into the works. Sullivan didn’t live to see the Olympics preempted by this other world event, however, as he passed away that September. (It appears that the International Olympic Committee did not outright cancel the 1916 Games, they simply never transpired.)

In 1931 the IOC selected Berlin as the host site for the 11th Summer Olympics. The 1936 Games were indeed held in Berlin, under the National Socialist regime that had risen to power in Germany a few years earlier. The Olympics were not held again until 1948. Guess why.

Not knowing what the future holds can be a beautiful, terrible thing.

Written by Ellen K. Corrigan, Assistant Professor, Cataloging Services, Booth Library, Eastern Illinois University

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