Primary Source Spotlight: Football

Last Updated on September 10, 2019

This primary source spotlight shines a light on the sport of American football.

Spinner Play, lithograph by American artist Benton Spruance – guided primary source analysis activities

Football images

Football films

• President Roosevelt at the Army-Navy game 1902
• Princeton and Yale football game 1903
• Chicago-Michigan football game 1903

Sports Byline USA radio program football audio recordings

• Jim Brown 08-15-2002
• John Elway 01-24-2003
• Archie Griffin 06-25-1993
• John Mackey 07-05-1991
• Barry Sanders 01-15-2004
• Reggie White 12-26-2005

Topics in Chronicling America – The 1905 Movement to Reform Football

More historic newspaper coverage of football

Books about football 1871-1923

“Football” poem by Louis Jenkins

U.S. legislation related to football

National Football League background information and links Library of Congress Business Reference Services

Library of Congress blog posts

• Are You Ready for some Football? In the Muse, February 4, 2010
• Armchair Quarterback Inside Adams February 5, 2011
• As a Matter of Fact, We ARE Ready for Some Football Now See Hear! September 9, 2015
• College football season is almost over but before we bid it adieu . . . Inside Adams, January 5, 2010
• Football Through Film and Other Primary Sources Teaching with the Library of Congress January 31, 2019
• Primary Sources in Science Classrooms: Concussions, a Century of Controversy, and Football, Teaching with the Library of Congress, November 4, 2015
• Tales of Football and Italian Americans Picture This, December 20, 2013
• Thanksgiving and Football: A Unique American Tradition Teaching with the Library of Congress, November 22, 2012
• Turf Wars on the Football Field Inside Adams blog, February 1, 2013

Today in History primary source collections

• Jim Thorpe
• Amos Alonzo Stagg
• Cornell University

More curated collections of sports resources