New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Empire State Games Director's Files

Generally chronological.

Formerly a program of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the Empire State Games were conducted as a series of annual Olympic-style competitions for amateur athletes from all over New York State. The Games were held in both summer and winter, and included two additional series for physically challenged and senior competitor classes.

In order to accommodate as many ages and abilities as possible, the games were split into major divisions: scholastic (approximately 12-17 years old), open (approximately 18-29 years old), and masters (approximately 30-75 years old). While many events consistently remained part of the Games each year, organizers reviewed participation statistics annually, adding or subtracting sports as necessary. Although the Winter Games were always held in Lake Placid, the Summer Games moved around the state from year to year in order to allow all regions to benefit from acting as hosts.

In 2009 and 2011, the Empire State Summer Games were cancelled due to a lack of funding from the State of New York. The 2012 Winter Games, Summer Games, and Games for the Physically Challenged were held due to private donations and community fundraisers. The Empire State Sports Foundation was created in 2012 in order to raise money for the Summer Games. Since its establishment in 1978, the Summer Games, in particular, have expanded to become one of the largest and most extensive amateur state-sponsored athletic programs in the nation, allowing New Yorkers to enjoy watching high-caliber athletes and even some future Olympians.

This series consists of the files of Fred Smith, the Empire State Games' last director. Much of the material was housed in binders, and some may be duplicated. Records formerly kept in binders were rehoused in folders according to labels used in the original binders wherever possible, are in their original order, and are identified on the folder tab as having come from a binder initially. Each summer and winter games tended to have planning binders that contained much of the director's information regarding the logistics of organizing events for that year. Certain categories of information, such as housing and media relations, are nearly always found in the planning binder folders. Other categories, such as materials pertaining to specific events, are less consistent both in terms of which sports are included and how much is available for each one.

The series includes a vast quantity of correspondence, much of it in the form of printed e-mails. Some correspondence can be found with planning binder records, but much more is contained in separate correspondence folders. Where possible, those records are identified by subject material, but in many cases, letters and e-mails were kept in large bundles and cover many topics. Those are identified as "general correspondence."

There are also ephemera such as ID lanyards and media passes, as well as programs and brochures for the games each year. There are sporadic event results, volunteer registration forms, and information packets relating to geographic regions and institutions where the games where held.

This series is organized primarily chronologically, with general topics appearing first within each year, then winter games materials, and lastly summer games materials. Not every year will have records for both summer and winter games.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.