Serving up tennis history with magazine archives and NotebookLM
The International Tennis Hall of Fame has teamed up with Google Arts & Culture to digitize the entire archives of “American Lawn Tennis” magazine, which stopped publication in 1951. The archives feature more than 1,000 artifacts, from 650+ fully-digitized magazines to historical photographs and beyond. ITHF curated the artifacts into 36 stories that explore the history of sports journalists and illustrators, the changing role of female athletes, the transformation of advertising and more. Plus, with the help of NotebookLM you can do your own research in the archives, or listen to six AI-generated audio deep dives on the sport.
A selection of photos showing tennis legend Althea Gibson; Gibson with her mentor, Dr. Robert Walter Johnson; and Gibson with rival, Louise Brough
Here are some highlights from the exhibition:
- Journey through the origins of tennis, tracing its path from 12th-century Europe to the courts of today.
- Meet historic figures like Jeane Hoffman, one of the women who carved a space for herself in sports journalism as a columnist and cartoonist.
- Dive into the world of vintage advertising, uncovering the charm and quirks of a bygone era.
- Look through iconic “American Lawn Tennis” magazine covers.
- Explore powerful narratives like the story of the oldest continually active African American tennis organization in the U.S.
- Celebrate American tennis star Don Budge and the First Grand Slam in tennis history.
In a first for Google Arts & Culture, this collection also includes an interactive experience with NotebookLM, Google’s AI powered research and writing assistant. Scroll down the collection’s landing page to ask questions about the history of tennis and get answers with sources cited in the magazine. You can also listen to six NotebookLM-generated tennis deep dive discussions, featuring two AI hosts.
"Digitizing the International Tennis Hall of Fame's archive and helping unlock its sports history using Google Arts & Culture's storytelling platform and NotebookLM supports the ITHF's mission to preserve these stories and inspire the next generation," says Amit Sood, the director of Google Arts & Culture. "Our partnership combining sports history with the latest technology reveals the inspiring history hidden in the archives for anyone to explore in a new way.”
