Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Advisory Council on Athletics minutes

Athletic activities in the early years after the establishment of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, Massachusetts in 1861 were student run and supported; in order to participate, individual students paid their own expenses. Competition was largely intramural, with keen competition between classes. Intercollegiate events were also held, involving sports such as football, baseball, track and field, and tennis. Each team was responsible for raising funds to support its activities and for regulating and managing competitions, which after some years resulted in confusion sufficient to necessitate the establishment of an umbrella organization to provide oversight of athletic activities.

The Advisory Council on Athletics was established in 1898 to "regulate the general athletic interests at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to exercise supervision over the management, and to assume control at any time it is deemed necessary of all funds, or income from funds, in any way connected with athletics, and have final jurisdiction in all matters pertaining thereunto." The council consisted of three alumni, three undergraduate students, and a treasurer.

In 1904 the MIT Athletic Association (MITAA) was founded to manage and promote athletic activity at MIT, under the supervision of the Alumni Advisory Council on Athletics. A student organization, MITAA was responsible for distributing Institute funds to various sports teams, for providing general management and promotion of athletic activities at MIT, and for participating in planning and policy decisions. Membership included captains and managers of individual Institute teams and undergraduate members of the Alumni Advisory Council. When the campus moved from the Back Bay in Boston, to the much larger site in Cambridge in June 1916, new facilities and space were available for athletic activities.

The Advisory Council on Athletics was dissolved in 1947