These records mostly cover the history of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf from the mid-1990s to 2011, under the leadership of presidents John M. Lovett (1995-2003), Donalda Kay Ammons (2003-2009), and Craig A. Crowley (2009-2013). Founded in 1924 as the Comité International des Sports des Sourds (CISS), this organization has been the governing body of international deaf sports for almost a century. Its preeminent position in deaf sports was formally recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1955.

These records reflect a period of expansion and modernization for CISS. In 1995, an IOC-backed attempt to merge CISS with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was abandoned as unsuitable for both groups. In 2001, the IOC gave permission to change the name of CISS’s flagship event from the World Games for the Deaf to the Deaflympics. In the same year, CISS became a member of the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), now known as SportAccord.

A few years later, in 2003, CISS abandoned its original French name, becoming the ICSD. Due to this period of transition, the records include both the old and the new names for the organization and the Deaflympics. Over this time, ICSD continued to expand, reaching 108 member countries by the end of the period covered by these records.

Finding support for the Deaflympics from national governments continued to be a challenge. The 19th Deaflympics (Rome, 2001), was marked by poor organization and financial difficulties, but later Deaflympics in Sundsvall (2003), Melbourne (2005), Salt Lake City (2007), and Taipei (2009) were much more successful. However, the 2011 Winter Deaflympics, which was to be held in Slovakia, had to be canceled when planning fell through.

In 2008, ICSD called an extraordinary session of the Congress to discuss reorganizing the organization more along the lines of the IOC, including the creation of National Deaflympic Committees and National Deaf Sports Federations to provide a more stable structure for funding and organizing the Deaflympics and other deaf sporting events. The ICSD continues to work to bring recognition and support to deaf sports worldwide.