Athletics at Brown University

Representing over 150 years of athletics at Brown, this collection is an unparalleled resource of archival material relating to the study of Brown sports. Consisting of photographs, moving images, artifacts, posters, drawings, cartoons, administrative records, and publications, this collection traces the earliest days of athletic competition at Brown and Pembroke up through the modern era. This collection is supported through an endowment created by Jackson Robinson (Class of 1964), the grandson of famed Brown football coach Edward North Robinson.

Contact Special Collections via the Question Form to help you get started using our collections and staff expertise.  Brown University Archives is part of Special Collections in the John Hay Library. 

The Encyclopedia Brunoniana contains historical information about the sports listed below:

Contact Special Collections via the Question Form to help you get started using our collections and staff expertise.  

Miscellaneous Athletics Papers, 1872-1983 (bulk 1872-1955) (MS-1O-1)
The collection includes correspondence, histories of football, and proposals for the Ivy League Agreement.

Brown University Department of Physical Education, Women coaches. Records, 1968-1978 (OF-1OA-2) (Size: 1 box)

Brown University Division of Athletics. Records of Athletic Committees and Associations, 1893-  (OF-1OB-1)

Brown University Division of Athletics. Financial records (OF-1OB-2)

Brown University Division of Athletics. Sports Information, 1891-  (OF-1OB-3)

Brown University Division of Athletics. Sport files, 1895-  (OF-1OG)

Series:

Brown University Division of Athletics. Athletic properties, 1924-  (OF-1OW-1) (2 boxes)

Pembroke College Athletic and Recreation Association records, 1908 - 1972 (OF-1Q-A1zp)

The Pembroke College Athletic and Recreation Association (ARA) records contain correspondence, financial records, minutes, programs, reports and other materials related to the Association's activities from 1908 to 1972. The records document the activities of the Association, its relationship with the physical education department, intramural sports at Pembroke College, and some of the athletic interaction between Pembroke College and other women's colleges in New England. 

Brown University, Department of Physical Education. Women's Physical Education Files (OF-1OA-1zp), 1914-1976
Size: 8 boxes

Athletic Scrapbooks (SB-1O-1), volumes 1-28, 1940-1973

Brown University Division of athletics (SB-1O-Z2), 1911 - 1945
Tickets for athletic events.  v.1: 1911-1941, v.2: 1941-1945; v.3: Box of miscellaneous (tickets: 1868, 1885-1886, 1890, 1903, 1903-1904, 1913-1918, 1922-1918;1922-1953, 1958-1961)

Pembroke College, Department of Physical Education (SB-1OA-1zp), 1919-1972
11 volumes.; Compiled by the department, these scrapbooks contain clippings, programs, photographs, and some letters that document every aspect of the department's activities.  They indicate, for example, the department's involvement in May Day, the Sophomore Masque, athletics, dance, the Athletic and Recreation Association, and interclass competitions.  Some clippings are about department faculty.  All of the scrapbooks, particularly the earliest ones, are very fragile. Most photographs in the first two volumes, and a few in the fifth, were removed to the University Archives photograph File: 1-ZP Department of Physical Education Scrapbooks. Photocopies were left in their stead.

Contact Special Collections via the Question Form to help you get started using our collections and staff expertise.  

TOPIC FILES AND CLASSIFIED FILES

This collection includes files containing newspaper clippings, circulars, notices, pamphlets, brochures, and other miscellaneous materials documenting a wide variety of topics on Brown's history. The topic files are an excellent starting point for any researcher beginning a research project on an aspect of Brown's history.

MUSEUM OBJECTS

This collection includes artifacts, ephemera, and memorabilia documenting numerous aspects of University history, including presidents, students, alumni, athletics, fraternities, sororities, academics, commencements, and reunions.  Includes class rings, class pins, sorority and fraternity pins, badges, lockets of hair, uniforms, dresses, clothing, medals, pennants, flags, plaques, trophies, furniture, liquor flasks, perfume flasks, canes, and scientific instruments.

BIOGRAPHICAL FILES

This collection consists of files of biographical information about alumni, faculty, administrators, and officers of the University. Alumni questionnaires, obituaries, and newspaper clippings are the common items found in these files.

PHOTOGRAPHS AND PRINTS

There are over 60,000 photographs depicting campus scenes, buildings, groups, events, student activities, athletic teams and events, and individual faculty members, students, and alumni preserved and accessible in the University Archives.

Other photographs may be found in enormous leather-bound class albums owned by graduates from 1857 to 1904. There are about 100 of these albums containing photographs of seniors, buildings, and student groups. The Robinson Collection of athletics depicts 125 years of Brown athletics. The earliest photograph is a daguerreotype taken of the class of 1847 as seniors. There are also drawings, etchings, and cartoons, and several hundred glass slides of campus scenes around the turn of the century.

Images of Brown (digitized images)
The Images of Brown digital collection presents digital facsimiles of original documentary images in the Brown University Archives. The original images are organized into four broad topical series, described as follows:

Individuals

Subject (buildings, events, student activities, etc.)

Sports – Individuals

Sports – Teams (contact archives@brown.edu for additional information)

The original photographs in the Photograph Collection are available for consultation by researchers in the Special Collections Reading Room at the John Hay Library. Please contact archives@brown.edu with questions or to have materials placed on reserve for you.

Brown Alumni Magazine, 1900-present (alumni magazine) (library catalog record)

• Access to digitized copies of the Brown Alumni Magazine (1900-1997) are available through the Brown Digital Repository.
• Access to recent Brown Alumni Magazine articles are available on the Brown Alumni Magazine website.
• With the September/October 1997 issue the Brown Alumni Monthly became the Brown Alumni Magazine.  The "new" alumni magazine decreased the number of annual issues from 9 to 6 but increased the size of each magazine (from 48-56 pages to 80-88 pages).

Brown Daily Herald, 1891-present (student newspaper) (library catalog record)

• Online (select years):http://dl.lib.brown.edu/dbdh/
• Online (2004-present):http://www.browndailyherald.com/

Pembroke Record, 1922-1970 (Pembroke student newspaper)

University Archives

Online (1923-1970):http://dl.lib.brown.edu/pebr/

Liber Brunensis, 1870-present (yearbook)

John Hay Library Reading Room

Brun Mael, 1909-1970 (Pembroke/Women’s College yearbook)

John Hay Library Reading Room

Celebrating 125 Years of Brown Football

Remembering Fritz Pollard and the African American Experience at Brown

Remembering Brown Sports

The Brown Bear: A History

For additional topics see:

University Archives Subject Guides

Special Collections Subject Guides

• College Athletics and the Law - Table of Contents (2008-present)
• Journal of Sport History (electronic access 2010-present) 

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• Journal of Sport History (physical access 1978-2012)
• North American Society for Sport History - NASSH Proceedings (2008-present)
• NCAA - Proceedings of the Annual Convention (1909-1976, not a complete run)
• Sports Illustrated Vault (This content is also available through the Academic Search Premier database.)