FOOTBALL FOOTAGE

1923-1939 | 1940-1944 | 1945-1949 | 1950-1955 | 1956-1960

About the Collection
The Marquette University Archives holds a significant collection of footage from men's football games. Much of this footage was originally created as 16mm film. In order to preserve the original film and to improve access, Marquette University's M Club has funded a number of conversion projects as technology has evolved over the years. In 2000, archives staff converted most of the 16mm film to video submasters, prioritizing intercollegiate game footage (as opposed to scrimmages) for conversion. Some scrimmage and intrasquad films have been converted through the years due to patron demand and financial support.

In 2006, M Club funding allowed University Archives to convert the material from VHS to digital format. At the time of the conversion in 2007, archives staff decided to augment descriptive information about each game to the finding aid to assist in the growing number of reference requests for the collection. Staff members, using a variety of sources including game statistics, media guides, and student publications, have expanded our description to include:

  • information about the type of production represented, so that patrons can distinguish between training-quality footage produced for coaches, and edited footage produced for other purposes,

  • running time, to better ascertain what portion of the game might be represented by the footage, and

  • game highlights (which may not appear in the footage), to facilitate in the identification of footage most likely to include particular players, events, and milestones.

University Archives is more than happy to provide copies of the footage in the collection for personal use. Please see our price list and the copyright statement for additional information. You can order VHS or DVD copies by contacting archives staff or by using our Online Order Form.

Please note that the assessments of the quality of the footage are assessments based on one might expect from film footage created at the time. These films are a product of their era and may not reflect more modern editing, zoom, and panning techniques.