The collection includes programs and guides for home games and postseason games. Visitors to the website can browse by Year, Coach, Guides, or Postseason.
The Tennessee Volunteers have one of the most storied histories in college football and some of the most colorful traditions to match. Over the years, Volunteer football has been host to thrilling victories, crushing defeats, influential coaches, dedicated players, and enthusiastic fans.
The football programs are packed with stories and facts. In the October 25, 2008 program, for instance, fans can read about the Tennessee vs. Alabama rivalry, retired Volunteer jerseys, and Smokey’s lineage and adventures (Smokey II survived both a dognapping and a confrontation with the Baylor Bear).
The University Archives at the UT Knoxville Libraries holds a nearly complete collection of Volunteer football programs going back to 1930, as well as a smattering of programs dating from 1904 to 1929. The library is scanning and uploading the programs in reverse order. To date, 246 programs (some 32,000 pages) going back to 1975 are available online.
If you have an old football program among your personal mementoes that fills a gap in the Libraries’ collection, the University Archives would love to borrow and scan your treasure. (Contact University Archivist Alesha Shumar, ashumar@utk.edu, 865-974-9427.)
The UT Knoxville Libraries digitizes unique local resources and makes them openly available on the web. University Archives collections documenting campus life that are accessible online include Volunteer yearbooks, Tennessee Alumnus magazine, programs from UT Commencements, and The Phoenix literary arts magazine. Visit www.lib.utk.edu/digitalcollections to view the Libraries’ growing catalog of digital collections.
Volunteer football programs from past years are now online. The Tennessee Football Programs are among the digital collections available on the UT Knoxville Libraries website at www.lib.utk.edu/digitalcollections.