FOOTBALL -- SPECIAL COLLECTIONS -- WALTER CAMP PAPERS

Location: HESB Microtext. Microfilm 3819.

Walter Chauncey Camp (1859-1925) was without question the single most influential figure in the early history of American football. As player and coach at Yale University, as athletic administrator, rulemaker, commentator, and publicist, he oversaw the game's growth from campus recreation to national spectacle. As a student at Yale University Camp played the fledgling sport for seven years (1876-82), three times serving as team captain. On leaving school he began his long tenure as Yale's unpaid "advisory coach," often meeting with players in the evening following his job at the New Haven Clock Company (where he eventually rose to president and board chairman). Camp remained as advisory coach until 1906, during which time Yale dominated college football, compiling a record of 218 wins, 11 losses, and 8 ties. As a student Camp had proposed the two fundamental changes that set the American game apart from rugby: the scrimmage rule (1880) and the downs system (1882). Beginning in 1878 he served continuously on football's rules committees, for twenty-eight years as secretary: his ideas dominated the early committees in particular. Camp's views on football, and on athletics and physical education in general, were disseminated through his voluminous writings, which include countless newspaper pieces, 200 magazine articles, and close to thirty books. The All-America teams he conceived, and selected annually from 1889 to 1925, quickly became the barometer of excellence in college football, and were widely imitated.

The Camp Papers are arranged in five series: Correspondence (Reels 1-20, arranged alphabetically by correspondent); Writings (Reels 21-40, arranged by topic or type in six categories: athletics, physical fitness, general writings, aphorisms, poetry, and miscellaneous writings); Newspaper and Magazine Clippings (Reels 41-45, arranged chronologically); Photographs (Reel 46); and Family Papers (Reels 47-48). By far the greater part of Camp's correspondence and writings deal with athletics and physical education. The chart below shows the range of materials on each reel; a full, folder by folder finding aid by Robert O. Anthony of Yale University Library may be found on Reel 1 of the papers.

Reel	Series	Folder Nos.	Folders
1	I -- Correspondence	1-32	Abbott -- American Intercollegiate Football Rules Committee 1910
2	I -- Correspondence	33-75	American Intercollegiate Football Rules Committee 1911 -- Beyer
3	I -- Correspondence	76-128	Bible -- Cavanaugh
4	I -- Correspondence	129-167	Central Press Association -- Collier's Weekly 1900 Feb
5	I -- Correspondence	168-197	Collier's Weekly 1900 Mar -- Conover
6	I -- Correspondence	198-233	Consolidated Press -- Dann
7	I -- Correspondence	234-269	Darlington High School -- Exposition Committee of the Sportsmen's Ass'n
8	I -- Correspondence	270-309	Eyre -- Greiner
9	I -- Correspondence	310-348	Griffith -- Heffelfinger
10	I -- Correspondence	349-391	Heineman -- Irving Syndicate
11	I -- Correspondence	392-443	Isham -- McArthur
12	I -- Correspondence	444-487	McAsham -- Morgan
13	I -- Correspondence	488-530	Morice -- Page (L. C.) and Company 1899
14	I -- Correspondence	531-577	Page (L. C.) and Company 1900
15	I -- Correspondence	578-625	Rich -- Shell
16	I -- Correspondence	626-671	Sherman -- Texas, University of
17	I -- Correspondence	672-726	Thacher -- Waldron
18	I -- Correspondence	727-776	Walker -- Wright, Henry P.
19	I -- Correspondence	777-814	Wright William Burnett, Jr. -- Yale University Bicycle Association
20	I -- Correspondence	815-849	Yale University Boat Club -- Zuppke and Unidentified
21	II -- Writings	1-21	Football: History, 1891 -- 1924, n.d.
22	II -- Writings	22-36	Football: History, n.d.
23	II -- Writings	37-54	Football: History, n.d. -- Football: Review of the Seasons, 1891-1924, n.d.
24	II -- Writings	55-72	Football: Review of the Seasons, n.d.
25	II -- Writings	73-103	Football: Review of the Seasons, n.d.-- Football: All-America Teams, 1889-1919
26	II -- Writings	104-126	Football: All-America Teams, 1920-1924 -- Football: Rules, 1883-1910
27	II -- Writings	127-152	Football: Rules, 1910-1925, n.d. -- Football: Spalding's Official Football Guides, 1891-1901
28	II -- Writings	153-177	Football: Spalding's Official Football Guides, 1902-1933 -- Football: Investigating Committee Questionaire (Camp), Allegheny College-Princeton University (A-H)
29	II -- Writings	178-212	Football: Investigating Committee Questionaire (Camp), Princeton University (I-Z) -- Rugby: Research notes, 1905-1910, n.d.
30	II -- Writings	213-242	Rugby: Research notes, n.d. -- Track: Olympics, 1902-1924, n.d.
31	II -- Writings	243-264	Track: Olympics, n.d. -- Rowing: 1887-1910, 1913-1924 and n.d.
32	II -- Writings	265-289	Rowing: Undated -- Other Sports
33	II -- Writings	290-319	Women in Sports -- Consolidated Press
34	II -- Writings	320-339	Athletics: General, 1890-1924 and n.d.
35	II -- Writings	340-363	Athletics: General, Research notes -- Physical Fitness, n.d.
36	II -- Writings	364-387	Physical Fitness, n.d. -- Physical Fitness: Research notes, 1891-1925
37	II -- Writings	388-406	Physical Fitness: Research notes, n.d. -- Clocks
38	II -- Writings	407-427	Hopkins Grammar School -- Poetry, n.d.
39	II -- Writings	428-445	Poetry, n.d. -- Miscellaneous, 1914-1922 and n.d.
40	II -- Writings	446-452	Miscellaneous, n.d. -- Miscellaneous: Research notes, n.d.
41	III -- Clippings	--	Football: History of the Game, 1876-1925 and n.d. -- Football: Review of the Seasons, 1876-1896
42	III -- Clippings	--	Football: Review of the Seasons, 1897-1913
43	III -- Clippings	--	Football: Review of the Seasons, 1914-1924 and n.d. -- Track: 1877-1894
44	III -- Clippings	--	Track: 1895-1925 and n.d. -- Magazine articles by Walter Camp: 1883-1918
45	III -- Clippings	--	Magazine articles by Walter Camp, 1919-1925 and n.d.
46	IV -- Photographs	1-59
47	V -- Family Papers	1-30	Walter Camp: Biographical material -- Memorabilia: Athletics, general
48	V -- Family Papera	31-69	Memorabilia: Yale -- Janet Camp Troxell

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