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PRESERVING HAWKEYE SPORTS HISTORY one
FROM THE HARDWOOD TO PASADENA AND THE ASPHALT TRACK TO WRESTLING MATS, the University of Iowa Libraries are working to preserve Hawkeye sports history, including the 1959 Rose Bowl, and make it accessible to all through a film digitization project.
The UI Libraries Special Collections and Archives and Conservation and Collections Care departments have begun an initiative to digitize about 530 football, men’s and women’s basketball, wrestling, and track films that date from the 1930s through at least 1989.
The state of film degradation is dramatic, especially for the older material, and many don’t have much life left in them. Due to the nature of film, the products of degradation induce further deterioration. Degradation affects the plastic support, causing film to become acidic, to shrink, and to give off an acetic acid with a vinegary odor, otherwise known as vinegar syndrome.
Projecting an original 16mm film can be risky, and eventually the originals will no longer be viewable, so digitization is critical. The digitization process helps create an exact and high-quality duplicate of the original, which can then be accessed online via the Iowa Digital Library.
The initiative is one way for past, present, and future Hawkeye fans to easily relive memories such as watching the full game of the Hawkeyes prevailing over the California Golden Bears in the 1959 Rose Bowl. Currently, only highlights of the game are available, within the UI Sportsfilm production “The Evy Era of Iowa Football.”
Want to help? Those interested can reach out to Paula Wiley, associate director of development for the Libraries, at paula.wiley@foriowa.org.
The many wonderful collections already digitized at the UI Libraries are available here.
A UI Libraries team had an amazing time bringing the original manuscript of the Iowa Fight Song to Hawkeye Caucus Day in April 2023 at the state capitol. The manuscript was donated to the University Archives by its composer Meredith Willson. The day provided an opportunity for the Libraries, and a number of other areas across campus, to talk with Iowa legislators about the continuing commitment to statewide service.
