The Syracuse University Archives is pleased to have been included in much of the background work for the new Universal film "The Express: The Ernie Davis Story". The world in general may not have known Ernie's uplifting story until now, but we in the Archives have known him intimately for years. We have been preserving photographs, news clippings, and memorabilia for many years, answering questions and helping researchers and the media along the way.

This has been a fascinating, but intense ride for us, from February 2007 to the world premiere on September 12 here in Syracuse. You could tell who the Archives staff were at the premiere - we were the ones who stayed until the bitter end to see "Thanks to the Syracuse University Archives" come rolling up from the bottom of the screen!

Below is an article we wrote for Spring 2007 issue of Access, our department newsletter.

On Track with "The Express"

One day in February we got a call…could we be available to attend a planning meeting in the office of the Director of Athletics for "The Express", the upcoming movie about SU football legend Ernie Davis? Absolutely! Little did we know what this would entail for the SU Archives staff and the resources we hold.

To film a movie you've got to create the time and place. For "The Express" a great deal of that time and place is Syracuse University in the late 1950's and early 1960's when Ernie Davis was on campus. So…what did the campus look like then? The academic buildings, the dorms, Archbold Stadium and most particularly the students? Hard to believe, but this was half a century ago!

The costume designer needed to see contemporary fashions, the hair and make-up designer styles and cuts, the football coordinator playbooks and film footage, and the set designer everything else that made up that decades ago world! No detail was too small (what were the logos on those jackets?) or too large (just what did Archbold Stadium look like?) The Archives staff and our student workers are providing ongoing information as the cameras get set to roll!

Below are some notes we maintained on what we've done (not complete as it doesn't have recent work on queries for copyright for SU fight songs being used in the film, display materials from the Ben Schwartzwalder collection used for the world premiere party, and recent work on the extras for the eventual DVD release):

Archives staff met with The Express representatives and were presented with a list of over 75 items/questions with which they needed help. This included requests for football programs, photographs of Ernie Davis, Cotton Bowl photos, campus photos, photos of Schwartzwalder's office, student cars, pennants, librarians, class rings and a myriad of other photograph requests. We were also asked for information on subjects such as the color of the team practice uniforms, color of the coaches' jackets, building signage of the era, class schedules, bike racks, catalogs, team bus, etc.

We were glad to help. The four of us in ARM at the time [Ed Galvin, Mary O'Brien, Larry Mead and Kathy Pieri] all worked on the project at one time or another and did most of the research, and 5 of our student workers did most of the scanning and photocopying.

We sent out 92 microfilm aperture cards of Archbold Stadium to a vendor who burned them to a CD.

We loaned 2 sets of yearbooks and a freshman beanie. We also pulled together boxes of trophies which we shipped to Chicago for use in several scenes of the film.

We photocopied 72 archival items.

From the Ben Schwartzwalder Papers we scanned plaques and desk items, football programs (front, back and center spread), the University seal, advertisements from DO, letterhead, originals of photos in Scott Pitoniak's football book, bowl game programs, SU logos, photographs of teams, coaches and individual players, photographs of Ernie Davis, campus photos, Cotton Bowl materials - 440 scans.