Last Updated on December 10, 2021
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 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: Bowl Season, the NFL and the Galloping Ghost Library of Congress Blog December 10, 2021
- 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
Here are two books that you might enjoy reading and connecting some primary sources to them.
-Carlisle vs. Army: Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner, and the Forgotten Story of Football’s Greatest Battle
by Lars Anderson
– The Real All Americans by Sally Jenkins.