Penn State University Archives

In 1990, the University Archives, a unit of the University Libraries Special Collections, began a concentrated effort to locate historical materials that would document the growth of athletic policies and the achievement of our teams. Our goal has been to establish a Penn State Sports Archive that will be unrivaled in its scope and serve both scholars and administrators.

To date, the Sports Archives included more than 4000 football films and videotapes, beginning with the 1929 film of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn State. The collection also includes football footage of the 1948 Cotton Bowl, highlight films dating back to 1952, footage of scrimmages, and films of practice sessions, Blue-White games, and almost every regularly scheduled game since 1957. The videotape collection includes footage of selected basketball, volleyball, soccer, wrestling, ice hockey and gymnastic events since 1950. Complete game-by-game, reel-by-reel inventories have been compiled for all the audio-visual materials. For a listing of the sports audio-visual materials held by the University Archives, go to Sports Audio Visual Collection or Football Audio Visual Collection.

The Sports Archives is by no means limited to films and videotapes. The collections include biographical information about many of the athletes who have helped make Penn State a sports power, media guides and press kits for all Penn State sports (including intramurals and club sports) and material related to many special events, and historical records concerning the rise of women’s intercollegiate athletics and the impact of Title IX. Complementing these collections are archival records of the Women’s Recreational Association, Women’s Intercollegiate Athletics, and the College of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. The Sports Archives also maintains extensive collections of the personal papers of such coaches as Hugo Bezdek, Charles “Rip” Engle and Tom Tait.

Sports historians and enthusiasts will find in these collections many opportunities for research. In addition, the Archives houses the North American Society for Sports History records and American Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance national, regional, and state records, the Charles Stewart Goodwin Football Program Collection and the Ron Smith Sports Book Collection. The Smith books can be found on the Penn State Libraries’ catalog. A transcript of John Cappelletti’s Heisman Trophy Award speech is available on this website, and a portion of his speech is available on VHS. The archives also have files on the many Penn Staters who have participated in the Olympics, either in competition, or in supporting roles. The University Archives is committed to maintaining and expanding this wealth of material through an aggressive collection development program.

 

Special Collections Library
104 Paterno Library
University Park, PA 16802
Telephone: (814) 865-7931, (814) 865-1793
Fax: (814) 863-5318

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