AUGUST 26 – December 19, 2024

Collage of Iowa athletes. Exhibit title and run dates of August 26 through December 19 are displayed on the graphic.

From Nile Kinnick to Caitlin Clark and Duke Slater to Christine Grant, Hawkeyes have been breaking records, navigating barriers, and making sports history since the University of Iowa’s first teams emerged in the late 1800s.

Hawkeye Histories | Sporting Stories examines the role sports has played at Iowa throughout the changing landscape of intercollegiate athletics and explores Iowa’s first men’s and women’s teams at the turn of the 20th century, the emergence of big-time men’s sports in the mid-1900s, and the rise of women athletes from the 1970s onward.

 

 

Curator Highlights

Several pinback buttons and metal pins featuring acronyms for women's sports organization.

Early women’s sports organizations pins, 1970s-80s

This collection of women’s sports organization pins comes from Holly Wilson Greene’s papers in the Iowa Women’s Archives.
Three softballs on a stairstep display inside a display case. Two are for softball coach Gayle Blevins career wins in 1987 and 1990 and one is an NCAA softball signed by the team in 1997.

Gayle Blevins career softballs: 1987, 1990, 1997

Softballs from softball coach Gayle Blevins. She compiled over 1,000 career wins and never coached a losing season during her 31-year collegiate coaching career.
A document printed with text from a lawsuit against the university of iowa for removing the women's swimming and diving team.

Ohlensehlen v. University of Iowa, 2020

Gender equity for women, and in women’s athletics, is an ongoing pursuit and legacy at the University of Iowa.
Notebook containing a detailed and labeled illustration of human scapula.

Physical education anatomy course notebook, 1920s

C. Pauline Spencer’s anatomy course notebook is both beautifully and skillfully rendered – evidence of the rigor of the women’s physical education curriculum.
Two place cards. One says Pauline Spencer and includes an illustration of a girl holding a basketball. The other is for Julia Darrow and includes an illustration of a girl with her back to the viewer reading a newspaper article about the women's basketbal

Women’s basketball banquet place cards, early 1920s

These place cards and the related women’s basketball and W.A.A. banquet booklets are evidence of the early commitment to, and support of, women’s athletics at Iowa.
A typewritten letter from 1985 in which the university of iowa tells christine grant that the fire marshal is unhappy with the exceeded capacity at carver hawkeye arena for a women's basketball game.

Women’s basketball NCAA attendance record, 1985

A letter from Casey Mahon to Christine Grant reiterates assurances provided to the State Fire Marshal that Carver Hawkeye Arena will never again exceed its rated capacity of 15,450 and aptly summarizes the significance of the moment when Mahon states, “I must admit that we have come a long way in women’s athletics when I find it necessary to write you this memorandum.”
Three men on a baseball diamond in 1911 with a crowd in the distance behind them. One is an Iowa player, the other two are from the Waseda baseball team from Japan.

“Strike one!” Iowa vs. Waseda, 1911

Learn more about the Iowa men’s baseball home series against Waseda University from Japan.
A white sheet of paper with typewritten names in columns of student-athletes recommended for letters at Iowa in 1928.

1928 football letter recommendations

This document recommends a large block letter “I” in football for Mayes McLain, indicating his major contribution to the team in 1928 as a Native American transfer student from Pryor, Oklahoma.

 

Exhibition Curation
Dr. Jennifer Sterling
Associate Professor of Instruction, Sport Media and Culture
Department of American Studies & School of Journalism and Mass Communication 

Preparation & Conservation
Bill Voss, Conservator Technician & Exhibit Preparator
Giselle Simón, University Conservator

Design
Lauren Coghlan, Creative Coordinator

Exhibition Coordination
Sara J. Pinkham, Exhibition and Engagement Coordinator

Installation
Bill Voss, Sara J. Pinkham, Giselle Simón, Lauren Coghlan

Consulting Archivists
Anna Holland, Associate Curator, Iowa Women’s Archives
Matrice Young, Student Life Archivist, University Archives
Sarah Keen, University Archivist, University Archives 

Mapping
Jay Bowen, GIS Specialist, Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio

Data Visualization
Nikki White, Digital Humanities Research & Instruction Librarian, Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio

Digital Touchscreen
Ethan DeGross, Researcher/Developer, Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio

Website
Ken Clinkenbeard, Web Services Specialist
Sara J. Pinkham

Virtual Exhibit Assembly & Photography
Sara J. Pinkham

Financial Support
Friends of the University of Iowa Libraries

Special Thanks
Dale Arens, Anne Bassett, Susan Birrell, Jack Bacon, Donna Brooks, Samantha Cary, Natalee Dawson, Bethany Davis, Eric Ensley, Sarah and Addie Farnsworth, Margaret Gamm, Tom Keegan, Kären Mason, David McCartney, Lindsay Moen, Michael Patterson, Kirk Peters, Hannah Sieperda and the University of Iowa Women’s Wrestling Program, Paul Soderdahl, Kevin Storey, Kalmia Strong, Bailey Turner, Janet Weaver, Matt Weitzal, Katie Wynn, Students from Spring 2024 SPST 1847 Hawkeye Nation and Fall 2023 SPST 2078 Women, Sport, and Culture classes.