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IRVING, Texas - The Dallas Cowboys for decades have kept memorabilia ranging from old player contracts to the teams earliest video footage piled in storage buildings and stashed in filing cabinets — sometimes only vaguely remembered.Although the Cowboys history is revered, many details are only now starting to come into focus with assistance from an East Texas native who arrived via the Philadelphia suburbs.Joshua Thorn was hired over the summer as the Cowboys first team archivist, a position more commonly associated with museums and universities. The lifelong Cowboys fan and former archivist for Campbells Soup has the job of consolidating and organizing more than 54 years of local football history.Youre only as a good as your collections, and youre only as good as what you can find in those collections, the 31-year-old Palestine native told The Dallas Morning News (http://bit.ly/13m2zlm).Thorn said that what hes discovered since July is impressive. His rough estimates are that the Cowboys have about 20,000 videotapes of various formats, thousands of film reels, thousands of footballs, cleats, jerseys and other memorabilia, and tens of thousands of photos, slides and negatives.This isnt unusual really, but more interesting than anything: pairs of practice shoes/cleats and game shoes/cleats from former players that still have the grass stuck all in the bottoms of them, Thorn wrote in an email.Important pieces of team history were saved, but finding any given item could be a difficult task for Cowboys staff. These pieces of the past were scattered around team headquarters at Valley Ranch and AT&T Stadium and warehoused at different storage facilities.Thorn is still in the early stages of understanding whats there and how it can help tell the story of the Cowboys.After 4 1/2 months of work, materials are still being consolidated at a nearly 2,500 square-foot climate-controlled section of the Cowboys marketing warehouse near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.At some point, parts of the collection will be on display at AT&T Stadium and the The Star in Frisco, the teams new headquarters and commercial development. The Cowboys have opted for this approach over a pure hall of fame museum.Thorn found the original data reports from the early 1960s when Cowboys general manager and president Tex Schramm worked with IBM on computer programs to grade players available in the NFL draft. The documents include the methodology used to evaluate them.You can read about that in books and articles, he said. But to be able to see what they were looking at, at the time, is amazing.Among the films, Thorn has found footage of Cowboys exhibition games — whats now called the preseason — from the inaugural 1960 season. Those are the Cowboys earliest games.Little has been neatly placed on shelves yet, as Thorn continues cataloging the collection.Boxes with game-worn jerseys from 1990s and 2000s stars Leon Lett, Darren Woodson and Jay Novacek sit near stacks of film reels dating back to the start of the franchise. There are copies of Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader scrapbooks dating back to the 1970s, one of former head coach Barry Switzers playbooks and a copy of a U.S. Senate subcommittee report on the 1964 professional sports antitrust bill.Every day, Im doing some cataloging, some boxing, some processing, some researching, some discovery, some evaluation, some digitizing, he said. Im going to do everything all the time.At one end, wooden pallets are stacked with boxes bound together with plastic wrap, waiting to be opened. Thorn isnt certain what hell find in those.Not all NFL teams have staff archivists or historians, and the ones that do take varied approaches.Cliff Christl, a retired sportswriter and now historian for the Green Bay Packers, arrived at his current job through his hobby. In retirement, he researched team history and created a Packers Heritage Trail tour.Unlike the Cowboys, little original material exists from the Packers early days.Nobody had any idea that what they created in 1919 would grow into what it is, he said.Instead, Christl researched about 50 years of newspaper articles about the team and has taken at least 200 oral histories from former players and those familiar with the team. His history column appears weekly on the team website, and Christl is also writing exhibit panels for the renovated Packers Hall of Fame at Lambeau Field.Charlotte Anderson, Cowboys executive vice-president and chief brand officer, said the creation of Thorns job has long been in the teams plans. Since her father bought the team in 1989, she said, Jerry Jones has had a strong appreciation for Cowboys history.Anderson said he always insisted on photographing and documenting all that happened and saving everything found related to the franchise.Everything we do becomes a piece of history, Anderson said. That actual piece tells the story of who we are.That led the team to keep as much as possible of what it has produced during the last 25-plus years and hang on tightly to what was already there.Anderson said shes looked at old contracts with much different compensation packages, a reminder of how much the league has changed. For example, in 1966, running back Walt Garrisons signing bonus included a horse trailer.Its unlikely today that the same type of sweetener was part of the negotiations with quarterback Tony Romo or would be pitched to the agents of wide receiver Dez Bryant or running back DeMarco Murray.Much was kept from the franchises beginning, but Anderson said theres no way to know how much history was discarded.She once saw a photo of Cowboys founder Clint Murchisons office door with carvings of a trophy, helmet and stadium. She asked around about that door but learned that it was probably discarded when the team moved its headquarters from North Central Expressway in Dallas to Irvings Valley Ranch.Nothing like that is likely to disappear in the future.Thorn is cataloging both the teams past and present. The hundreds of thousands of items will be archived in the system hes created, while new material — such as video for in-game entertainment and printed documents — is preserved.The goal one day is to have the material digitally archived so staff can instantly find everything related to a specific moment in Cowboys history.A large amount will eventually make it to the public, too.Touch-screen video columns were installed at AT&T Stadium in the off season and give fans an in-depth glimpse at Cowboys players and history. The databases for those columns are expected to be supplemented with treasures Thorn finds.Some of the work involves transferring outdated media into digital formats that are easily shared. Those duties are similar to Thorns work as staff librarian and audio-video preservationist for the University of North Texas Music Library.Thorn received his bachelors and masters degrees at the Denton university. In keeping with his fascination with old technology, he wrote many of his papers there with a manual typewriter he rebuilt when he didnt own a computer.Other artifacts and photos will be appearing on Cowboys social media accounts, on the teams website and during game presentation.Thorns efforts are now spent on sorting what the Cowboys already have. Anderson said she could see the team eventually contacting fans with private collections and seeking to digitize those.We have fans all over who have incredibly interesting pieces of our history, Anderson said. Theres another layer to this.Anderson said the teams plans for a stand-alone Cowboys Hall of Fame at AT&T Stadium changed in the past few years. Instead, the team is now looking at spreading the collection throughout the stadium and The Star in Frisco.We dont want to just hang a star on the wall, Anderson said. We want to have the live part of that history.___Information from: The Dallas Morning News, http://www.dallasnews.comEditors note: This is an AP Member Exchange shared by The Dallas Morning News. Maury Wills Jersey .cas NHL Play of the Year showdown continues today with a man whos spent most of his career on highlight reels and a goalie actually "reaching back" for a save. Custom Los Angeles Dodgers Jerseys .com) - Patrik Elias registered the winner in the shootout as New Jersey nipped Toronto 2-1 at Prudential Center on Wednesday. https://www.cheapdodgersonline.com/75h-hyun-jin-ryu-jersey-dodgers.html . "This isnt really the week you want to lose Chris Greaves," fellow lineman Glenn January said Wednesday after practice. Greaves is expected to miss several weeks after suffering a knee injury in last weeks 36-28 win over the Ottawa Redblacks. Manny Mota Jersey .Morse gets a $1 million signing bonus and salaries of $7 million next season and $8 million in 2016 under the agreement announced Wednesday. Dodgers Jerseys 2019 . The Durban-based Sharks withstood a furious second-half fightback to beat the Queensland Reds 35-20 for a fourth straight win which gave them a five-point lead atop the championship table. The Hamilton-based Chiefs scored two late tries to beat the Cape Town-based Stormers 36-20 for their third win, after the Stormers rallied from 24-6 down to 24-20 with six minutes remaining.MARKHAM, Ont. -- Britni Smith didnt know how it happened. One moment she was on the ice taking a shot, the next she was lifting the Toronto Furies first Clarkson Cup. Smith scored in overtime Saturday as the Furies shut out the Boston Blades 1-0. She struggled to describe how it happened. "I honestly dont even remember how we got in their end," Smith said as she held back her emotion. "But the puck went from (Natalie) Spooner behind the net over to Prevo (Caroline Prevost), I saw some ice in front of me, skated ahead, got a perfect pass on the tape. I shot high-blocker and it just twirled in. "Once I saw it cross the line, hands in the air and that was it." The sixth Canadian womens hockey league championship was the first time Toronto (3-1) and Boston (3-1) met in the championship game and the only time the Furies qualified for the final in club history. Toronto was a surprise finalist after defeating the number-one ranked, three-time Clarkson Cup champion Montreal Stars on Friday in the round-robins lone shootout. The Blades were undefeated in the round robin with an impressive 3-0 record, allowing just four goals against in the entire tournament. The Boston-Toronto rivalry was in full effect as both teams fought hard to the finish. Spooner, who scored the shootout winner in Fridays victory over the number-one ranked Stars, was named the tournaments most valuable player. "This year couldnt really have been better for me," said Spooner. "Obviously nothing beats winning an Olympic gold medal but this is pretty sweet right now and I am really happy about it." Christina Kessler was named the tournaments most valuable player after performing stellar in net for the Furies with 25 saves against Boston following up Fridays sppectacular 34 save spectacle.dddddddddddd. "Kess is amazing," said Furies forward Alyssa Baldin. "It is great to have a goalie like Kessler behind you." Blades forwards Hilary Knight, Kate Buesser and Kelli Stack were offensive stars throughout the tournament. Knight, who scored four goals against Calgary on Friday, led the tournament with five goals while Buesser led with seven points. Boston has three members of Olympic silver medallist American team on its roster including Stack and Knight while Toronto has four members of gold-medal winning Canadian squad playing for the Furies, including Jennifer Wakefield, Tessa Bonhomme and Spooner. The Blades were 5-2 against Toronto during the regular season and in the second day of round-robin action Boston defeated Toronto 2-1 in its closest game of the tournament. The pace of the final was quick from the start. Boston had the majority of quality scoring chances in the first 20 minutes and forced Kessler to make nine first-period saves. After a scoreless two periods, both teams speed and goaltending was on full display in the third. Kessler was forced to make a breakaway, short-handed save robbing Knight while Toronto failed to capitalize on the power play as the game headed to overtime. A day after scoring four goals against Calgary, Knight failed to score for Boston against Toronto while Buesser was also kept scoreless. Buesser finished the tournament leading with three game winning goals. Boston goaltender Brittany Ott played fantastic for the Blades, making 25 saves in front of a sold out crowd. During the regular season Boston was 5-2 against Toronto, and on the second day of round-robin action Thursday the Blades defeated Toronto 2-1 in Bostons closest game of the tournament. ' ' '