The public is invited to "A Discussion—The Truth Revealed: Academic Uses of Sports Archives, Commemorating the 25th Anniversary of Penn State’s Sports Archives," from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 18, in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, Penn State University Park.

Mark Dyreson, professor of kinesiology and an affiliate professor of history at Penn State, and Ronald A. Smith, professor emeritus of kinesiology, will engage in a dialogue discussing their use and experiences with the sports archives collections to inform their writing and publications about intercollegiate athletic history. They will evaluate the construct and usability of these collections in light of the scope of their individual pedagogy and research projects. Both Dyreson and Smith will relate the use of archival primary sources to its import for undergraduate and graduate student instruction.

Dyreson will specifically address his on-going project about sport and race at Penn State from the 1930s through the 1970s. Smith will discuss control of intercollegiate athletics at Penn State from George Atherton’s presidency in the 1880s to Joe Paterno’s demands when he was asked to be athletic director, and what archival research tells us about the possibility of scandals.

The Penn State Sports Archives, http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/speccolls/psua/sports.html, established in 1988, and within The Eberly Family Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library, consists of athlete files, audio-visual materials, media guides, press kits and memorabilia.

Other 25th anniversary events are scheduled for this summer and on Oct. 13, during Homecoming weekend and additional announcements will be released.

For more information about the Sports Archives, the April program or questions about the physical access provided, contact Paul Dzyak at 814-865-2123 or pjd106@psu.edu.