The power of sports has many applications. Sports unite people, teach values, and inspire hope and pride. In the United States, sports have powered efforts to bring citizens together, shape them, and project a vision of what it means to be American. But sports convey power to athletes too—power to break social barriers and protest injustice. All American explores the power of sports both to embody our national ideals and challenge us to live up to them.
All American is free and open to the public and will be on display in the Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery of the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC, through January 7, 2024. This 3,000-square-foot exhibit will showcase more than 75 items including original records, artifacts, and photographs.
Highlights will include original sports equipment and jerseys given by star athletes to Presidents, early 20th-century tobacco baseball cards, trophies, rare pictures and film footage, patents, and more!
All American examines the Power of Sports through four sections:
Visitors will be able to:
Photograph of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, 1936
National Archives at College Park
View in Online Catalog
World War I Draft Registration Card for George Herman Ruth, 1917-1918
National Archives at Atlanta
View in Online Catalog
Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. May Noma behind the plate and Tomi Nagao at bat . . ., May 30, 1942
National Archives at College Park
View in Online Catalog
“Pvt. Joe Louis Says – We’re Going to Do Our Part . . . and We’ll Win Because We’re on God’s Side,” 1942
National Archives at College Park
View in Online Catalog
Letter from Kenesaw Landis to President Franklin D. Roosevelt Regarding Baseball, January 14, 1942
National Archives, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
View in Online Catalog
Photograph of Jim Thorpe, ca. 1910
National Archives at Washington, DC
View in Online Catalog
Letter from Lt. Jack Robinson to Truman K. Gibson, July 16, 1944
National Archives at College Park
View in Online Catalog
Third seed Serena Williams, USA returns a shot during her 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 victory over Natalie Dechy, as the Family Circle Cup Tennis Tournament on Daniel Island in Charleston, South Carolina, while hundreds of Charleston Air Force Base (AFB) personnel volunteer to help provide security for the tournament, April 17, 2002.
National Archives at College Park
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An Act of June 23, 1972, Public Law 92-318, 86 STAT 235, to Amend the Higher Education Act of 1965, the Vocational Educational Act of 1963, the General Education Provisions Act (Creating a National Foundation for Postsecondary Education and a National Institute of Education), the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 874, Eighty-First Congress, and Related Acts, and for Other Purposes, June 23, 1972.
National Archives at Washington, DC
View in Online Catalog
Chilocco Indian School Basketball Team, 1909
National Archives at Fort Worth
View in Online Catalog
Letter from the Green Bay Football Corporation to Gerald Ford Offering a Professional Football Contract, February 11, 1935
National Archives, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
View in Online Catalog
Autobiographical Manuscript by Jack Johnson, 1921
National Archives at Kansas City
View in Online Catalog
Featured Document Display: The 50th Anniversary of Title IX
Special Topics Page: Baseball at the National Archives
Special Topics Page: Winter Olympics
National Archives eBook: Baseball: The National Pastime in the National Archives
Online Exhibit: Letter from Jackie Robinson to IKE about the Little Rock 9
DocsTeach: Baseball on the World War I Homefront
DocsTeach: Baseball: A Morale Booster During Wartime?
Unwritten Record: Football Photographs at the National Archives
The Text Message: Major League Baseball, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and World War II
The Text Message: Baseball Patents
Prologue Magazine: Congressional Play-by-Play on Baseball
All American: The Power of Sports is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of AT&T, AARP, and Mars, Incorporated. Additional support provided by HISTORY® and the Lawrence F. O’Brien Family. Opening Month support provided by Anheuser-Busch.
701 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20408
Open daily, 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
