University of Idaho Intramural Sports collection
Content Description
Includes records, meeting minutes, correspondences, photographs, and slides of intramural sports and teams.
Dates
- Creation: 1938-1992
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Biographical / Historical
Intramural athletics can be traced back to the mid-1800s. However, it hadn't gained popularity within the academic or collegiate fields in the United States until the early 1900s.
For the University of Idaho, the earliest mention of intramural (or intra-mural) sports can be found in the 1922 Gem of the Mountains yearbook. According to a statement by Thomas Kelley, the Director of Athletics at the time, the department of Physical Education wanted to "lay a great deal of stress upon intra-mural and inter-class competition" (Gem of the Mountains, 1922, page 107). Later in 1922, Robert Lee Mathews was eventually named the Director of Athletics and a Professor of Physical Education. In this position, he kept the supervisory role of intramural athletics and other inter-class sports.
Intramurals grew in popularity from this point on. It became a way for fraternities (and eventually sororities and individual students) to compete against each other in various sports. During it's earliest years at U of I, its important to note that intramural sports weren't only allocated to male students. In 1925, the U of I Women's Athletics Association wanted to further women's interest in intramural athletics. They participated in basketball, baseball, volleyball, and outdoor activities.
Under Leo Calland, Director of Athletics and Vandal Football coach (circa 1930s), interest in intramural sports at the University of Idaho grew once again. With the changes he made to the athletics program, "intramural sports have come rapidly to the fore," (Gem of the Mountains, 1930, page 154). In the 1940s, Leon G. Green was Director of Intramurals. He eventually became the university's Athletic Director. In 2019, Leon's grandson, C. Scott Green, became the University of Idaho President. To this day, intramural sports are an integral part of U of I campus life and culture.
Extent
1.5 Cubic Feet
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Meeting minutes, records, correspondences, forms, photographs, slides, and other materials from intramural sports at the University of Idaho.
Arrangement
The first series of this collection (Series I. Papers) were left in original order. The photographs were separated into specific athletic catagories, and those files were placed in alphabetical order. The slides and contact sheets and negatives were left in the order created by the previous processor.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The materials in this collection came from Elizabeth "Liddy" Kang, Administrative Coordinator for the Movement Sciences department in the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences.
Condition Description
Good.
Processing Information
This collection was worked on first by Courtney Berg in late 2021, early 2022. It was finished by Sara Szobody in Fall 2022.
Source
- University of Idaho (Organization)
- Title
- Guide to University of Idaho Intramural Sports collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Sara Szobody.
- Date
- 2022
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives Repository