Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Department of Athletics & Recreation fonds
General material designation
- Textual record
Parallel title
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Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on the provenance of the fonds
Level of description
Fonds
Repository
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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[190-?]-2019, predominant 1990-2013 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
4.58 m of textual records
c. 4,530 photographs: b&w and col.; various sizes & formats
6 scrapbooks
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
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Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Administrative history
Athletics teams were first formed at Vancouver's McGill College of British Columbia (1908-1915), the precursor to the University of British Columbia. When UBC was founded in 1915, officially formed teams included rugby, ice hockey, basketball, and field hockey. To better support sporting endeavours at UBC, the Big Block Club established the men's club in 1929 and the women's club in 1930. The primary function of these clubs was to provide volunteers to organize and promote athletic activities at UBC.
In 1933, UBC hired its first two physical education instructors, and in 1936 the UBC Senate recommended the establishment of a Physical Education Department, although the establishment of the department got postponed. It was 1945 when the first Director of Physical Education, Robert "Bob" F. Osborne, was hired for the Department of Physical Education. Osborne, a UBC graduate, was a member of the Thunderbirds basketball team that won the Dominion Championship in 1931. Alongside Osborne, Marian Henderson, a graduate of the University of Toronto, was Director of Women's Physical Education. At this time, the controlling bodies of sports at UBC were the Men's and Women's Athletic Directorates (MAD) & (WAD). In 1946, while WAD continued under the control of the Student's Council, MAD had its finances for the first time in UBC history.
In the early years, UBC's athletics grounds, buildings, and recreation facilities were considered below the standard of sporting facilities of other Canadian universities. While the construction of facilities was addressed somewhat after World War II, including the development of the War Memorial Gym in 1950 and the Thunderbird Winter Sports Centre in 1965, lack of facilities remained an issue into the 1980s. As a result, a committee was established in 1986-87 to review Athletics and Sports Services at the university. Increased student participation in athletics created a higher demand for the administration to construct more physical facilities accessible at more convenient hours. In addition, women's athletics coaches highlighted issues about equitability, where the administration was allocating three times as much money to men as to women's athletics.
The modern-day Department of Athletics and Recreation sports model ranges from student participation to the competitive UBC Thunderbird teams. The Athletics archives were initially established by Douglas "Buzz" Moore (1922-2011). As well as being the "heart and soul" of UBC athletics for almost five decades, he also acted as an unofficial historian collecting records associated with UBC athletics achievements. The responsibility for the Athletics archives at the War Memorial Gym later went to UBC Athletics Historian Fred Hume. The first inductions into the UBC Sports Hall of Fame took place in 1993. In 2002, the UBC Sports Hall of Fame joined the Big Block Club induction ceremonies. In addition, the Millennium Breakfast was established in 1999 and is dedicated to raising funds for student-athlete scholarships and awards. Today, the Department of Athletics and Recreation supports more than twenty Thunderbird teams at UBC. The records of this fonds reflect the rich sporting history of the university.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The records of the Department of Athletics and Recreation fonds are representative of the athletics side of the Department of Athletics and Recreation. While athletics and recreation fall under the same department, in practice, they operate independently of one another. Their textual records are also physically held at separate locations. Surviving records in the Department of Athletics and Recreation fonds are broadly representative of the achievements of UBC athletes and teams. Far less extensive, are the types of administrative documents produced or accumulated in the course of the day-to-day business of the department. Examples of records present in the fonds include programs, historical research, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, team rosters, scoresheets, profile write-ups, yearbooks, media guides, correspondence, agendas, training schedules, coaching handbooks, travel itineraries, and ephemera.
The Department of Athletics and Recreation fonds is arranged in the following series; Athletics photographs, Athletics History, Baseball, Basketball, Athletic Events (including Big Block, Hall of Fame, and Millennium Breakfast), Cross Country Track and Field, Field Hockey, Football, Golf, Ice Hockey, Media & Promotions, Assorted Sports, Other Sports (which includes Skiing, Sailing, Tennis, Gymnastics, Rowing and Wrestling), Rugby, Soccer, Swimming and Volleyball.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Photographs are available from the archives vault. They are assigned series UBC 4.1/.
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
These are institutional records and subject to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Researcher access to these records is subject to review. To organize access please contact us at UBC Archives.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Online finding aid
Please see the finding aid for an inventory of files and photographs.
Uploaded finding aid
Associated materials
Accruals
Further accruals are expected.
General note
A detailed inventory and report on the original conditions of these records was compiled in 2017. This report is with the accession file.
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number area
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Osborne, Robert F. (Subject)
- Schrodt, Barbara (Subject)
- Read, Frank (Subject)
- Gnup, Frank (Subject)
- Phillips, Bus (Subject)
- Todd, O.J. (Subject)
- Gaul, Bobby (Subject)
- Capozzi, Herb (Subject)
- Srivastava, Krishan (Subject)
- T-Cup Game (Subject)
- McGeer, Pat (Subject)