Images and Souvenirs from the 1932 Xth Olympiad

Olympic Stadium, 1932
Photograph; 4.25 x 2.75 in.
Gift of Lonnie Edward Thompson
Bowers Museum #32352A.1-.2

The 1932 Summer Olympics, or the Games of the Xth Olympiad were the first Olympic games held in Los Angeles and only the second Olympic games to take place outside of Europe. Held during the Great Depression, only the city of Los Angeles made a bid to host the Xth Olympiad. Approximately 1400 athletes from 37 nations competed , only about half of the usual number of nations and athletes due to the financial hardship of the times. Even the President of the United States, Herbert Hoover, did not attend the games.













The 1932 Summer Olympics saw many important firsts such as the first ever “Olympic Village” (male athletes were housed in the Olympic Village in Baldwin Park, female athletes stayed at the more comfortable Chapman Park Hotel on Wilshire Blvd). This was also the first time a victory podium was used. The 1932 Summer Games also marked the debut of China as an Olympic competitor. China, or the Republic of China at the time, sent only one athlete, Liu Changchun who competed in Track & Field but was eliminated in the preliminary heats. Famous female athlete “Babe” Didrikson competed in these games, winning two gold and one silver medal in track and field.

Pictured here from the Bowers Museum collection is a seat pillow, an official pictorial souvenir of the games and a photograph of Olympic Stadium, today known as the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.


Olympic Stadium Seat Pillow, 1932
Printed cotton; 11.5 x 14in.
Gift of Mary M. Martin
Bowers Museum #98.76.2









Official Pictorial Souvenir, 1932
Paper; 8.5 x 11 in.
Gift of Lonnie Edward Thompson
Bowers Museum #32352D


The Bowers Museum sends its best wishes to all of the athletes competing in 2008 Beijing XXIX Olympiad!

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