Elviry Snodgrass -- Lady Wrestler

CultureUnknown
Titles
  • Elviry Snodgrass -- Lady Wrestler
  • [Women Only]
Date1940s
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 9 5/16 × 7 5/16 in. (23.7 × 18.6 cm)
Sheet: 10 1/16 × 8 1/8 in. (25.5 × 20.7 cm)
Credit LineBarbara Levine and Paige Ramey Collection, museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund
Object number2020.137.27.229
Non exposé

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Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

The "golden age" in the history of women’s wrestling in the United States was the 1940s and 1950s. Following the austerity of World War II, audiences craved new types of entertainment. Women wrestlers emerged on the scene, many in carnival atmospheres in which audience members could challenge them to a match. Titillating to some men, this odd career was also empowering to some women. Popular wrestlers such as Ida Mae Martinez and Elvira Snodgrass were able to travel the world and build substantial personal fortunes. Today, they are remembered through the trading cards and press photographs produced at the height of their fame.


ProvenanceBarbara Levine and Paige Ramey; purchased by MFAH, 2020.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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