Library Guides: Sports Studies: Archives and Manuscript Collections

Overview

This page provides a general introduction to sports archives and archival resources/manuscript collections. Patrons will find tools for finding archival repositories, locating archival collection, and links to select potentially helpful repositories and archival collections. This guide is not a complete list of all resources but provides an entry to get your research started.

For more information, please see the Hesburgh Libraries Archives and Archival Resources Guide.

ArchiveGrid
ArchiveGrid covers over four million records describing archival materials, bringing together information about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more.

On-Campus and Local Archives and Collections

Joyce Sports Research Collection
The Joyce Sports Research Collection in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of Notre Dame Hesburgh Libraries, is one of the largest accumulations of sports-related print and manuscript matter in the world, supporting research into the history, sociology, and economics of American sports and their antecedents abroad. Related subject areas supported by the collection include health and exercise, sporting activities and the outdoors, sports literature and journalism, games, and many more topics. The most prevalent formats are books, periodicals, printed ephemera, printed illustrations and photographs, and manuscripts.
University of Notre Dame Archives
The University of Notre Dame Archives is responsible for the collection, maintenance, and preservation of the official records of the University of Notre Dame as well as other records that document the life of the Catholic Church and her people as lived in the American context.
Civil Rights Heritage Center
Born from the efforts of Indiana University South Bend students and professors, the Civil Rights Heritage Center transformed a once-segregated city swimming pool into an active learning center. It explores the civil rights struggles of the past so people can take action in the present and build a better future.

Select Sports Archives, Libraries, and Repositories

This page provides links to select repositories, archives, and manuscript collections around the country that contain significant sports-related materials. Some of these repositories may have digitized portions of their collections.

H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports
Based at the University of Texas, the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports is a research center housed within the Department of Kinesiology & Health Education. We are a unique combination of library, archive, and gallery/exhibit space.The Stark Center features collections from around the world related to all aspects of physical culture and sports.
Olympic Studies Centre
Located in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Olympic Studies Center is maintained by the International Olympic Committee. The Centre contains printed matter, manuscript collections, images, a/v material, and other items related to the history of the modern Olympics.
LA84 Digital Library
Unique digital archives hosted by the LA84 Foundation containing publications, reports, oral histories, articles about sports, athletics, and Olympic Games history.
Ski & Snow Sports Archives
Housed in the Special Collections Department at the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah, the Ski & Snow Sports Archives is one of the most comprehensive collections in the entire country for research into the history and development of Utah's prospering winter sports industry. The archives document the history of ski competition on local, national, and international levels; the founding of major resorts; snow safety and avalanche control; ski equipment; ski instruction; freestyle skiing; the 10th Mountain Division; back-country skiing; and virtually every facet of winter sports in Utah and the surrounding region.
National Sporting Library and Museum
Dedicated to preserving, promoting and sharing the literature, art and culture of equestrian, angling and field sports. Founded in 1954, the National Sporting Library & Museum (NSLM) is located in Middleburg, Virginia.