The Football Team Reunion series (.5 linear feet) documents the organizing of the 50 year reunions of the 1947 and 1948 University of Michigan football teams and the programs presented at the reunions. The papers consist of correspondence and miscellaneous papers, a questionnaire completed by the 1947 team, a small number of photographs, and a videotape and the commemorative book produced for each reunion.
The correspondence, most of which relates to the 1947 team reunion, is divided into Kampe files, generated by Kurt Kampe, the original organizer of 50th reunion, and the files of Irwin Small who assumed leadership of the reunion after Kampe's death. The correspondence provides information about the preparations for the reunion and some interesting insights and information about the players' experiences at Michigan and their later careers.
The videotape produced for the 1947 team reunion includes footage of the team's arriving in Pasadena, complete footage of the 1948 Rose Bowl game with some voice-over narration by Dr. Small, several highlight clips from the 1947 season and portions of a television program about Coach Fritz Crisler. The 1948 reunion video is of the 1948 Indiana game, a 54-0 Michigan victory in which nearly every team member played. Dr. Small provided a voice-over commentary for the video. These videos are stored with Athletic Department game tapes at the Bentley.
The commemorative books include reproductions of articles, rosters and photographs from game programs and other sources, newspaper clippings, letters, play diagrams and other material from the Herbert O. Crisler and Bennie Oosterbaan papers and other sources at the Bentley Library, biographical material about team members and recollections written by some team members. Each of the books was autographed by all the team members attending the reunions.
