MALE BODY BUILDERS - SERGIO OLIVA (MR. OLYMPIA) AND FRANK ZANE (MR. AMERICA), 1968-1975 PHOTO ALBUM

There are thirty-six photographs and accompanying magazine clippings in this 10" x 11.75" brown faux leather hardcover spiral bound album. They are mounted under plastic to sticky pages, and magazine clippings are grouped in plastic sleeves. Photos vary in size, and are both black and white and color. There are 20 black and white photographs of black bodybuilder Sergio Oliva competing at the 1968 International Federation of Body Builders Mr. Olympia competition, which he won. On the inside cover of the album is pasted the June Mr. America magazine cover featuring Mr. Oliva surrounded by his trophies, and there are a few multiple-paged magazine articles and photoshoots about him, and other black body builders commenting on race in the competition, saved and included. Following pictures of Mr. Oliva are 4 photos of Frank Zane competing on the same IFBB stage in the 1968 Mr. America competition, which he won overall. Facing these is a magazine photo of Mr. Zane. Also included are later color photos of body builders (Ken Waller 1972, others unnamed), and one photo of the winner and two runners up to possibly the 1974 Miss Olympia competition (they're pictured in bikinis on the same IFBB stage but don't appear to be extra muscled, perhaps Miss Americana? As suggested by a loose paper with details for the event included, though it is dated 1975). Details about the person who put together the album are piecemeal: he was an African American man who judged the 1974 Olympia competition at Madison Square Garden, was a fan or connoisseur of bodybuilding, possibly a police officer (there are several photos included of a nice family dinner, assuming the man primarily photographed in these is the album maker, as well as one photo, also possibly of him, hanging by one very muscled arm off the diving board in a hotel pool). The album is a well-preserved package of photographs of, and thoughtful commentary on, an era of body building in America.