Writers’ Roundtable

The next Writers’ Roundtable meeting will be 7 p.m. Thursday, December 3.  Simon Bronner, retired professor of American Studies at Penn State Harrisburg, will present “How York Barbell changed York County and American life.”

This program will be available in person and on Zoom.  Registration coming soon.

The York Barbell Company, founded in 1932 by Robert “Bob” Hoffman (1898-1985) in York, has been recognized for its pivotal role in the development of strength athletics globally. Previous historical writing such as the work of John D. Fair has centered on the biography and driving vision of Hoffman, particularly the ways that his personality and views on national pride, “manly culture,” and health were manifested in his promotion of weightlifting as a sport and lifestyle.

As part of Simon Bronner’s research including material at the York County History Center, Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sport, and the Smithsonian Institution for the book Muscle! Power! Sex! The Strongman in Physical, Material, and Political Culture,  he shifts the analysis to the impact of York’s products and programs, particularly in North America, on moving exercise from a public to domestic pursuit, and in the process creating a sociopolitical as well as physical definition of the “strongman.” In this presentation, he discusses his pursuit of evidence of the York Barbell Company (and “Club”) and its setting the narrative for the book.

Simon J. Bronner, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at both the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he served as Dean, and the Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg, where he chaired the American Studies Program and directed the School of Humanities. The author of over 40 books, recent titles include Folklore and Ethnology in the Modern World (2025) and Americanness: Inquiries into the Thought and Culture of the United States for Routledge (2021).