A preview of the Mark H. McCormack Collection

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the acquisition of the Mark H. McCormack Collection by the University of Massachusetts, McCormack's role in marketing history and the significance of the collection to researchers.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on an examination of selected documents in the collection and interviews with University of Massachusetts archivists.FindingsThe McCormack Collection contains eight million pages documenting the history of IMG, McCormack's groundbreaking marketing and management company. Most documents cover the period 1960‐2000. IMG, which began as a golf company, became a key player in the marriage of sport and television, as well as the commercialization and globalization of sport and celebrity culture. The University Archives staff plan to make the collection a dynamic multidisciplinary research tool. The collection will be valuable to students of marketing, sport and other forms of popular culture. The availability of archival resources affects what topics researchers pursue. The McCormack Collection will make it possible to investigate a wide range of new topics and personalities.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper was written before University of Massachusetts had fully developed its collection access policies or plans for digitizing the collection.Originality/valueThis paper alerts scholars to a major new research resource.