This post is guest authored by Garrett Lewis, where he tells of his recent research trip. The Department looks forward to his analysis and further development of his thesis.

From October 5th-8th, I traveled to the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign to visit their archives, as they hold the Avery Brundage collection. This collection is crucial to my thesis research, as I am writing about the early Cold War Olympics and the formation of the narrative of East-West conflict through sport. Avery Brundage, an alumni of the University of Illinois, served as the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1952-1972. This period not only saw the introduction of the Soviet Union to the Olympic Games, but also extended over a series of Cold War hot points. Brundage, himself, was a staunch Cold Warrior, and my project examines the role he and the IOC played in forming a narrative of East-West conflict. This is important because the Olympics were founded as a tool to bring international peace, and the assertion that these high-ranking officials could have been undermining this mission through their rhetoric and actions complicates a traditional narrative of the role of the IOC during the Cold War.