The Intercollegiate Rowing Association Collection consists of documents, correspondence, newspaper clippings and programs relating to the Poughkeepsie Regatta, held from 1895 to 1949.
The collection consists of materials donated or purchased for Marist College by various individuals.
In 1894 representatives from Columbia University, Cornell University, and the University of Pennsylvania selected the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie as the site for regattas of their newly formed Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA). The first Poughkeepsie Regatta was held in June of 1895 and attracted more than 30,000 spectators. The challenging four-mile course ran south from Crum Elbow (near Hyde Park) to just south of the current site of the Mid-Hudson Bridge.
Poughkeepsie soon became known as the “Rowing Capital of the World,” hosting IRA regattas from 1895-1949. In addition to the founding members, participants over the years included California, Georgetown, Harvard, MIT, Navy, Princeton, Rutgers, Stanford, Syracuse, Washington, Wisconsin and Yale. In 1949, the IRA moved its annual regatta briefly to Ohio, and then to Onondaga Lake near Syracuse.
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Documents and newspaper articles pertaining to the history of the Poughkeepsie Regatta.
By subject
Original and reproductions of official Poughkeepsie Regatta programs from 1912 through 1949.
Chronological
Histories of the teams that rowed in the Poughkeepsie Regatta.
By subject