Overview
The first football game is rumored to have been played on the Harvard campus between the freshman and sophomore classes in the fall of 1827. Football became an organized sport at Harvard in December 1872, when the Harvard University Foot-Ball Club (H.U.F.B.C. or H.F.B.C.) was formed to foster interest ino the sport within the College. This collection consists of official programs published for Harvard University football games.
Dates
- Creation: 1892-1992
Creator
- Harvard Athletic Association (Organization)
Researcher Access
The Harvard football programs, 1892-1992 are open for research.
Extent
2.4 cubic feet (8 document boxes, 1 flat box)This collection consists of official programs published for Harvard University football games, including programs for the famed Harvard-Yale game. From 1926 onwards, official programs for games on the Harvard campus were published as issues of the Harvard A.A. News and later, the Harvard Football News, by the Harvard Athletic Association or the Harvard University Department of Athletics. The collection also includes official programs published by athletic associations for campuses hosting away games, such as the Yale University Athletic Association.
The programs generally include rosters of team members, photographs of team members and campus buildings, historical notes and series histories between teams, score cards, rules, sports schedules, and advertisements.
Historical Note
The first football game is rumored to have been played on the Harvard campus between the freshman and sophomore classes in the fall of 1827. This annual game between the two classes was forbidden by the Faculty in 1860; a football was solemnly buried to mark the occasion. The game revived in 1871, and football became an organized sport at Harvard in December 1872, when the Harvard University Foot-Ball Club (H.U.F.B.C. or H.F.B.C.) was formed to foster interest in the sport within the College. Harvard declined to join an intercollegiate association between Yale, Columbia, Princeton, and Rutgers in the fall of 1873, due to the different rules by which Harvard played; Harvard played its first intercollegiate games against McGill in 1874. The following year, the first game between Harvard and Yale was played in New Haven.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in chronological order.
Acquisition information
Archivists in the Harvard University Archives and their predecessors assembled football programs from a number of sources to create this collection.
Acquisition information for individual items, when known, is noted at the item level below.
Inventory update
This document last updated 2023 April 19.
Processing Information
This finding aid was created by Juliana Kuipers in December 2013.
Titles were devised by the archivist.
Creator
- Harvard Athletic Association (Organization)
- Harvard University. Department of Athletics (Organization)
- Title
- Harvard football programs, 1892-1992 : an inventory
- Author
- Harvard University Archives
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hua46013
Repository Details
Part of the Harvard University Archives Repository
Holding nearly four centuries of materials, the Harvard University Archives is the principal repository for the institutional records of Harvard University and the personal archives of Harvard faculty, as well as collections related to students, alumni, Harvard-affiliates and other associated topics. The collections document the intellectual, cultural, administrative and social life of Harvard and the influence of the University as it emerged across the globe.
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