Women in Blue & Gold: About the Project

	About the Project
	Our goal for the Women in Blue and Gold project was to feature at least one image of each athlete who participated on a varsity sports team for each year that she played, thereby creating a visual record of the hundreds of women who have composed the Marquette women's intercollegiate athletics program over the last 30 years. From the outset, we decided to unveil the initial installment of approximately 400 images in conjunction with Archives Week in Wisconsin during October 2006 rather than unveiling a fully complete project many months later. In our initial installment, we planned to include images representing all of the women's varsity sports that had been offered at Marquette . This had a direct bearing on the way in which we proceeded in selecting images for digitization: rather than working comprehensively through one specific sport for the entire period of 1975-2005, we chose to digitize images for each sport for a limited time frame (generally a five-year increment) and then move on to the next sport for that same time period so that we would be able to include images for all women's sports. The images documenting women's participation in intercollegiate athletics are included in a number of distinct collections within the University Archives; working over a limited time period created not only retrieval and refiling efficiencies, it was also beneficial in that we were able to capitalize on the somewhat stable core of team players from one year to the next in recognizing the players and their jersey numbers. As of October 1, 2006, the digital collection includes images documenting the following women's sports and time periods: Basketball, 1986/1987 through 1994/1995 seasons Cross-country, 1986 through 1989 seasons Rifle team, 1992/1993 through 1996/1997 seasons Soccer, 1993 and 1994 seasons Tennis, 1986 through 1994/1995 seasons Track and field, 1987 through 1989 seasons Volleyball, 1986 through 1992 seasons We chose to begin our project with images from the mid-1980s for a number of reasons. Many of the images that were ultimately included in this digital collection were unidentified at the outset of this project, and considerable research went into determining the identity of the women featured in the images. Resources available in the University Archives to assist in identification – sports programs, media guides, and the like - were richest in the period beginning in the mid-1980s. Furthermore, in the summer of 2005 we had obtained a large collection of photographic negatives from Marquette 's Instructional Media Center Photographer, dating from 1986 to the present. This wealth of images included many action shots from athletic contests as well as team photographs and headshots that we knew were not contained elsewhere in our collections. We would be able to find and locate quickly – and provide the richest visual record – images of athletes from the years covered by this valuable accession. Finally, we knew that we were going to have to work at least in somewhat recent years, due to the relative youth of some of the sports – including the co-ed rifle team (added in 1992/1993) and women's soccer (which became a varsity sport in 1993). This combination of factors led us to begin selecting and cataloging images from 1986 and forward so that we could best ensure both a critical mass of images and representation of all women's varsity sports in our initial installment. While our preference was to select action shots for inclusion, we were occasionally forced to choose portraits. In a limited number of years, there was no alternative: images prepared for media guides were the only visual records available to document a sport. And for individual players who perhaps suffered injuries midway through a season or who saw limited game action, portraits were, in some cases, the only images we could find to represent them. This project was made possible through the generous support of the M Club. Special thanks also go to Erin Passehl, currently a graduate student at the University of Michigan 's School of Information, who graciously volunteered her time over the summer of 2006 in digitizing and describing many of the images included in the collection. Questions about this collection or the selection and workflow procedures involved can be directed to Michelle Sweetser.

About the Project

Our goal for the Women in Blue and Gold project was to feature at least one image of each athlete who participated on a varsity sports team for each year that she played, thereby creating a visual record of the hundreds of women who have composed the Marquette women's intercollegiate athletics program over the last 30 years.

From the outset, we decided to unveil the initial installment of approximately 400 images in conjunction with Archives Week in Wisconsin during October 2006 rather than unveiling a fully complete project many months later. In our initial installment, we planned to include images representing all of the women's varsity sports that had been offered at Marquette . This had a direct bearing on the way in which we proceeded in selecting images for digitization: rather than working comprehensively through one specific sport for the entire period of 1975-2005, we chose to digitize images for each sport for a limited time frame (generally a five-year increment) and then move on to the next sport for that same time period so that we would be able to include images for all women's sports. The images documenting women's participation in intercollegiate athletics are included in a number of distinct collections within the University Archives; working over a limited time period created not only retrieval and refiling efficiencies, it was also beneficial in that we were able to capitalize on the somewhat stable core of team players from one year to the next in recognizing the players and their jersey numbers.

As of October 1, 2006, the digital collection includes images documenting the following women's sports and time periods:

Basketball, 1986/1987 through 1994/1995 seasons
Cross-country, 1986 through 1989 seasons
Rifle team, 1992/1993 through 1996/1997 seasons
Soccer, 1993 and 1994 seasons
Tennis, 1986 through 1994/1995 seasons
Track and field, 1987 through 1989 seasons
Volleyball, 1986 through 1992 seasons

We chose to begin our project with images from the mid-1980s for a number of reasons. Many of the images that were ultimately included in this digital collection were unidentified at the outset of this project, and considerable research went into determining the identity of the women featured in the images. Resources available in the University Archives to assist in identification – sports programs, media guides, and the like - were richest in the period beginning in the mid-1980s. Furthermore, in the summer of 2005 we had obtained a large collection of photographic negatives from Marquette 's Instructional Media Center Photographer, dating from 1986 to the present. This wealth of images included many action shots from athletic contests as well as team photographs and headshots that we knew were not contained elsewhere in our collections. We would be able to find and locate quickly – and provide the richest visual record – images of athletes from the years covered by this valuable accession. Finally, we knew that we were going to have to work at least in somewhat recent years, due to the relative youth of some of the sports – including the co-ed rifle team (added in 1992/1993) and women's soccer (which became a varsity sport in 1993). This combination of factors led us to begin selecting and cataloging images from 1986 and forward so that we could best ensure both a critical mass of images and representation of all women's varsity sports in our initial installment.

While our preference was to select action shots for inclusion, we were occasionally forced to choose portraits. In a limited number of years, there was no alternative: images prepared for media guides were the only visual records available to document a sport. And for individual players who perhaps suffered injuries midway through a season or who saw limited game action, portraits were, in some cases, the only images we could find to represent them.

This project was made possible through the generous support of the M Club. Special thanks also go to Erin Passehl, currently a graduate student at the University of Michigan 's School of Information, who graciously volunteered her time over the summer of 2006 in digitizing and describing many of the images included in the collection.

Questions about this collection or the selection and workflow procedures involved can be directed to Michelle Sweetser.