The John and Dessa Campbell Library Endowment was established in 1976. Through their estates and with the assistance of John’s ('26) brother, Joe ('38), the couple created the endowment to support the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Sports Research Collection. John served as a member of the Hesburgh Libraries Advisory Council from 1974 until his death in 1986.

The Campbell Endowment helps to support the acquisition of materials for the Joyce Sports Research Collection, one of the nation’s most important holdings of rare print and manuscript materials on sports, recreation, and physical culture. The Joyce is an advanced resource for students and faculty working in many areas of the humanities and social sciences, especially history and American studies.

There is no replacement for studying, in person, the type of documents and artifacts this fund has been purchasing since the mid-70s. These resources are deemed rare or “special” for differing reasons; they might be old, unique, a good pairing with current holdings, or created by someone historically interesting. Among the most significant additions in 2011-12 were the original manuscript papers of Nathaniel (Nat) Fleischer (1887-1972), one of America’s preeminent sports journalists and founder and editor of The Ring magazine, the “Bible of Boxing.” Acquisitions such as these help to boost the prominence of the Hesburgh Libraries and, in turn, the entire University.