By Becky Malewitz | May 6, 2025
It was probably the first time most of the Gen Z students had seen the technology.
“I’m going to ask you to bear with me today as you engage with some of the old-timey experiences with the games,” Crystal DeJaegher, academic technology specialist on the Office of Information Technology’s Teaching & Learning Technologies team, said to her Games and Simulations for Learning class.
Visiting the Hesburgh Libraries, the students were about to experience the technology of their ancestors, or at least their parents. They would use a joystick to play “Pac-Man” and “Pele’s Soccer” on an Atari 2600. They would have to flip a floppy disc to continue their journey on “The Oregon Trail” using an Apple IIe. And they would experience the long load times trying to play Michael Crichton’s “Amazon” on a Commodore 64. In addition, the students, who primarily only experience games through digital downloads, had the opportunity to explore an array of games with original packaging, formats and ephemera.
The technological blasts from the past were available for DeJaegher’s class thanks to the Hesburgh Libraries’ Legacy Technology Collection. Curated by Dan Johnson, English, Digital Humanities, and Film, Television, and Theatre Librarian and Interim Co-Director of the Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship, the collection comprises vintage consoles and software.
“Our collection runs roughly from the late 1970s until the early 2000s,” Johnson said. “But, we anticipate there could be forward movement, as more technology enters legacy status.”
With technology rapidly changing, the Center for Digital Scholarship maintains state-of-the-art equipment to support teaching and research. So why is it important to also preserve technologies from the past?
Disappearing media and culture
Often, computer games are primarily thought of for entertainment value, but gaming holds both cultural and technological significance.
In 2023, the Video Game History Foundation, in partnership with the Software Preservation Network, conducted the first-ever study on the commercial availability of classic video games and found that “87% of classic video games released in the United States are critically endangered.”
“We saw this as a hole in preservation because software is a cultural creation,” Johnson said. “It requires certain hardware to play it in its original context. There are ways to access the software, like through the fairly robust secondary market for the originals, but that will vanish through time.”
Matthew Thomas Payne, associate professor in the Department of Film, Television and Theatre, frequently uses the collection as a professor and a researcher. He appreciates Johnson and the Center for Digital Scholarship's efforts to preserve this disappearing media.
“People who make games don't necessarily have a sense of their history because that’s not what they are paid to do,” Payne said. “It's not their job to think about what shipped last quarter, and they certainly aren't thinking about how to preserve what happened a decade or more ago. Collecting these materials falls to archivists, librarians, or even, sometimes, fans.”
Teaching and scholarship
In addition to holding technological and cultural significance, legacy technology is important in the educational sphere.
“Direct interaction with the retro games collection in the Center for Digital Scholarship is important for my class,” DeJaegher said. “Playing diverse and, in many cases, unfamiliar games of the past broadens the students' design perspectives and considerations for what mechanics and theories may be effectively leveraged in educational games. Studying the well-preserved physical ephemera of these games also offers a unique window into game culture before the digital age, highlighting different engagement methods for the intended audience.”
Johnson also points out the educational value of this technology by comparing it to materials held in Rare Books and Special Collections. Just as a medieval researcher's work can benefit from looking at original pages of a manuscript, a video game researcher or student studying gaming can gain insight from seeing a game in its original format, with its original ephemera.
“Seeing something in its original context holds classroom and research value,” Johnson said. “Books have annotations, publications have features that fall off in subsequent printings. There are also the physical features, like typesetting and watermarks, that hold value for students and researchers. We make the same argument when it comes to software. You can see things in their original state that you would not see by just emulating the software online.”
Since its inception, the collection has been utilized by professors across campus in the classroom setting as well as for individual research.
“When it comes to teaching, we’ve hosted classes covering game design, the history of educational technology, 1980s pop culture, and more,” Johnson said.
Payne has brought several classes to the library to use the collection. He has also used it in his own research.
“What I love about the Center for Digital Scholarship is its location in the Hesburgh Library. It is such a strong nodal point for the University community,” he said. “It's great for students and some faculty to know that games are not frivolous and deserve to be included in the things we protect and maintain. It's a really amazing asset to have, both for teaching and scholarship.”
While co-writing a book about the classic role-playing computer game “Ultima,” Payne worked extensively with Johnson and the growing collection. Not only did the librarian find a copy of the game in its original packaging, but he was also able to provide a Commodore 64 to play it.
“I was able to look at the actual material that came packaged with the games, including instruction manuals, maps, and even the promotional materials that came in the box,” Payne said. “It was really helpful for thinking about the history of this item and how it was framed for consumers. What were the expectations going into that experience? Those are the granular details and nuance you don't get if you simply go onto a digital distribution site and pay $5 to play a modernized version of that game.”
Payne published his book in 2024, and included an acknowledgement of Johnson, the Center for Digital Scholarship, and the collection, saying they “provided key research assets.”
Renewed purpose for “obsolete” tech
Back in the Hesburgh Libraries, DeJaegher's class worked their way through each station. There were complaints about the joystick's ergonomic design, the slowness of “Amazon” on the Commodore 64, and not having enough time on “The Oregon Trail.” Still, overall, the students left the library smiling.
“They genuinely enjoyed the opportunity to engage with games outside their usual sphere of interaction, including titles they'd previously heard about only from older family members or friends,” DeJaegher said. “The hands-on aspect of this exploration underscored the realization that effective games—whether used for education or entertainment—don't necessarily require immense complexity.”
The professor believes her students' experience interacting with the Legacy Technology Collection will inspire them as they work on their final projects, conceptually designing educational games.
“The visit provided a valuable foundation for their creative design work in terms of the fundamental design principles and game mechanics that make a game engaging and appealing,” she said.
While DeJaegher and Payne apply this technology to gaming scholarship, Johnson expands upon its relevance, noting broader campus applications such as its current role in the study of early electronic literature. The librarians' work and the expanding collection empower students and faculty across disciplines, giving renewed purpose to what some may consider “obsolete” technology.
“It's very much a teaching and use collection,” Johnson said. “There are plenty of great opportunities for students and researchers to use legacy tech as primary source material, to create new scholarship.”
The Legacy Technology Collection can be found in the Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship. Patrons interested in using the collection can book a time with Julie Vecchio, Interim Co-Director of the CDS. For classes interested in using the collection, please contact Dan Johnson.