Columbia University Archives: Athletics

Archival collections are non-circulating and can only be viewed in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library's reading room (RBML). In order to use the collections at the RBML, you will be required to register your own Special Collections Research Account before your visit and to validate the account in person with government-issued photo identification or Columbia ID card. Once you have created your Special Collections Research Account, you will be able to request materials directly from the finding aid: click the check box located on the right for the box(es) you need, and then scroll back to the top of the container list document and click “Submit Request” in the red-rimmed box at top. This should lead you directly to your Special Collections Research Account to complete the request form.

• Intercollegiate Athletics and Physical Education Records, 1890-2015
  This is our largest collection of athletics records. This collection consists of the official records of the Columbia intercollegiate athletic teams as well as the administrative records, minutes, press releases, media guides, programs, photographs, and scrapbooks from the Intercollegiate Athletics and Physical Education Department.

• Historical Subject Files, Series IV: Athletics
  This series contains newspaper and magazine clippings, press releases, programs, brochures, and other printed matter relating to Columbia's sports teams and sports-related activities. Collected by Columbiana and University Archives staff over the years, the materials vary greatly and cover a wide range of dates.

• Central Files
  Central Files contains the core administrative records of the University. The records originated in the Office of the President starting in the 1890s and continue through the present. Central Files chiefly contains correspondence (sent and received) between Columbia University administrators and other University officers, faculty, trustees, and individuals and organizations from outside the University.  If you search the container list on the term “athletics,” you will find numerous references to the athletics program over the years and individuals associated with its administration.  These athletics records mostly date between the 1890s and the 1970s.

• Office of the Provost Records
  The Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs records (1939-2006) include documentation on the administration, development, and history of departments, programs, research institutes and centers, schools, and academic services. The files include correspondence between the Office of the Vice President and/or Provost and administrators, committee members, deans, department chairs, donors, faculty members, foundations, offices, and students. If you search the full container list on the term “athletics” you will find reports, studies and files relating to the administration and development of the Office of Physical Education and Intercollegiate Athletics. Most of these athletics records date between the 1960s and 1990s.

• Photographs

  • Intercollegiate Athletics and Physical Education Negatives, 1932-1963
    This collection contains the negatives, on glass and on film, of the sports teams, student athletes and coaches at Columbia University from the 1930s to the 1960s. In addition, there are photos of campus events (e.g., rallies, commencement), playing fields (e.g., Baker Field, Camp Columbia) and other friends of the Athletics program (e.g., Athletics Association (AA), Varsity "C" Club). It also includes other sports-related groups such as the Band and the cheerleaders. Many of the photographs were taken by University Photographer Manny Warman.

For additional sports photographs:

• Historical Photograph Collection, Series IV: Athletics
• Office of Public Affairs Photograph Collection
• John Mladinov Photograph Collection, 1940s
• Gabriel Cooney Photograph Collection, 1990s

Archival collections are non-circulating and can only be viewed in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library's reading room (RBML). In order to use the collections at the RBML, you will be required to register your own Special Collections Research Account before your visit and to validate the account in person with government-issued photo identification or Columbia ID card. Once you have created your Special Collections Research Account, you will be able to request materials directly from the finding aid: click the check box located on the right for the box(es) you need, and then scroll back to the top of the container list document and click “Submit Request” in the red-rimmed box at top. This should lead you directly to your Special Collections Research Account to complete the request form.

• The Columbian
  The Columbia yearbooks often include rosters, team photos and season roundups. To request The Columbian, (1890-2019), on the right side of the page, under the University Archives, look for the Request: Special Collections link. Once you've logged in to your Special Collections Research Account, enter the year you are interested in the Date field (where it says "1891 uuuu"), and submit the request.

• Columbia University Committee on Student Organizations records, 1905-1919
  The Committee on Student Organizations governed rules of eligibility regarding academic standing and eligibility for student organizations, sports activities, scheduling of events, and the like. 

• Lou Little Papers
  Lou Little was the football coach at Columbia University, 1930-1956.

• Nicholas Murray Butler football correspondence
  This collection contains correspondence received by Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler after he banned football at Columbia in 1905.

• Flat Files Collection, Series III: Athletics
  This series includes oversize posters, athletic programs, team portraits, and newspaper clippings related to a variety of different sports played by Columbia students.

• Columbia Medals Collection, Subseries I.3: Athletics
  This subseries contains Columbia and intercollegiate athletics medals from 1875 to 1942. The medals are organized by sport.
   
• Ivy Group records 
  Material is unprocessed. Please contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
   

• Oral Histories

  • William “Ted” de Bary, CC 1941 PhD 1953, was a Columbia alum, professor (1953-1990 but Emeritus and still teaching 1990-2017) and University Provost (1971-1978). In these two interviews, one from 1987 and one from 2010, among many other topics, he talks about athletics at Columbia. (De Bary rarely missed a Lions football game.)

  • Reminiscences of Rudolph Ludwig Von Bernuth: oral history, 1963
    Rudolph “Pop” Von Bernuth, CC 1903, AM 1905 Law 1906, was a member of the hockey team and Varsity Crew as an undergraduate. A founder of the Columbia University Athletic Association, he stayed closely associated with athletics long after commencement. He was a member of the Stadium Committee appointed by Nicholas Murray Butler for the construction of Baker Stadium (1922); he chaired the University Committee on Athletics (1930s) and the fundraising committee for a new gymnasium (1960s). 

• A History of Columbia College on Morningside. New York: Columbia University Press, 1954. Part of the Bicentennial history of Columbia University, this volume includes Chapter V: “The Lion Afield,” by J.N. Arbolino, 199-231.

• Columbia University. Office of Sports Information. Columbia/Barnard Athletic Consortium, Division of Women's Intercollegiate Athletics. Merry L. Ormsby, editor. [New York] : [The University], Office of Sports Information, [1984].

• Little, Lou. How to watch football ; the spectator's guide. New York, London : Whittlesey house, McGraw-Hill, [1935], [©1935] Written by legendary football coach, this book includes some of the plays from Columbia's winning game against Stanford at the 1934 Rose Bowl.

• Robson, John William. A guide to Columbia University: with some account of its history and traditions. New York: Columbia University Press, 1937.  Look for Chapter XV: Traditions and University Life, which includes a section on Athletics and Baker Field (193-197).

• Rosen, R. D. Tough Luck: Sid Luckman, Murder, Inc., and the Rise of the Modern NFL. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2019. The life of Sid Luckman CC 1939, the only Columbian inducted into the College and Professional Football Halls of Fame. (see also the related Fall 2019 CCT article about this book)

• Welch, Paula. Silver era, golden moments : a celebration of Ivy League women's athletics : Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Yale. Lanham, Md. : Madison Books : Distributed by National Book Network, [1999], ©1999.