Sports Research
As part of its mission to document the history of the University, the Archives collects and maintains many records relating to varsity, club, and intramural sports. A large section of our collection of athletic records was transferred to the University Archives from the Joyce Sports Research Collection in 1991 and 1993. Sports material in the Archives include media guides, programs, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, and ephemera, as well as administrative records, photographs, and audio-visual recordings. Narrative and photographic accounts of athletic events can also be found in resources such as the Dome yearbook, Observer student newspaper, and Scholastic student magazine. The bulk of the material revolves around the history of varsity athletics at Notre Dame; however, some information regarding club and intramural sports also exists in these collections.
Athletic Department Statistics
The Notre Dame Athletic Department has compiled a significant amount of statistical and historical information related to the varsity athletic programs and made it available for use online. This is an important resource for sports information that should be consulted before contacting the Archives. Some of the information that can be found on this site includes individual and team statistics, team rosters, lists of coaches, game schedules and results, and monogram winners. The Athletic Department maintains this site and the information on it and it is subject to change. All questions regarding material found there should be directed to the Athletics Communications office.
Tips for using the Athletic Department website
Begin by clicking on the sport you wish to research under the “Sports” tab at the top left on the main page. Information or Media Guides and supplements are usually found under the “News and Notes” section in the center column of the page for each individual sport. Information Guides are updated every year, near the beginning of each sport’s regular season. The Information Guides usually contain all-time rosters or monogram winners, award winners, and season results. The “Archives” section for each sport generally contains press releases, season results, and other statistics from about 1996 to present. Each sport is different in the type, quantity, and quality of information available.
Information about Non-Notre Dame Sports
The Archives generally collects information pertinent to the University; however, the Archives does hold microfilm copies of several important sports publications. While these newspapers highlight baseball and are considered essential resources for historical baseball research, many also report on other sports and recreational activities of their era. Click on the link for more information regarding these periodicals:
19th-century Sports Newspapers
The Sporting News 1886-1917
The Sporting News 1916-1980
The Sporting Life 1883-1917
For more in-depth research on non-Notre Dame sports, please contact the Joyce Sports Research Collection, a division of the Special Collections in the University Libraries.
This page was last updated December 8, 2023