Archive & sources
Where to find primary records of the Empire State Games.
The Empire State Games left behind a large body of primary records — medal books, raw results, athlete rosters, director’s files, programme booklets. Most of this material is held by the New York State Archives or the SUNY library system. The list below is a guide to where research sources sit.
Official records
- NY State Archives — Empire State Games Raw Results and Participant Rosters (record series 22491). Holds the raw results books and participant rosters for the Summer and Winter Games. Winter results available for 1985–1994, 1998, and 2003–2008. Finding aid →
- NY State Archives — Director’s Files (record series 22488). The administrative files of the Games’ director’s office: planning memoranda, budgets, host city correspondence. Finding aid →
- NY State Archives — Event Publications (record series 22494). Programme booklets — The Medalist — plus the official medalist books for each year. Finding aid →
These collections are catalogued but generally not digitised; access typically requires a research visit or a remote-reference request to the State Archives in Albany.
University collections
- University at Buffalo Libraries — Empire State Games subject collection. UB’s library system has assembled a research subject collection covering the Games’ Western New York editions and the scholastic divisions. ArchivesSpace listing →
Online results archives
- Tully Runners — Empire State Games results. A long-running New York track-and-field results site, with Empire State Games T&F results for many years. tullyrunners.com →
Press archives
Period coverage of the Summer and Winter Games is best read through local New York newspaper archives — The Buffalo News, Syracuse Herald-Journal / Post-Standard, Albany Times Union, Newsday, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, and Press & Sun-Bulletin of Binghamton — for the years their city hosted. Many are available through public-library newspaper databases.
The original site
Empirestategames.org was the Games’ official site through the state-run era. Its archived snapshots are preserved by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. See the 2007 capture in particular for the state-funded era at its peak.
Wayback Machine — empirestategames.org →