This post was written by Emily Daniel, Rebecca Durgin, and Shayla Wheat, graduate students in the Smithsonian-Mason History of Decorative Arts Masters Program. Emily, Rebecca, and Shayla were also Graduate Research Assistants in 2015-2016 at the National Museum of American History Library.
In anticipation of the thirty-first modern Olympic Games being held in Rio de Janeiro starting this week, here is a look at the type of equipment that may have been used at the first modern Olympic Games 120 years ago.