1901 Advertisement for Columbia Bicycles made by Pope Manufacturing Company of Hartford, CT.
From Wayfinding.
Posts Tagged ‘history’
Columbia Bikes
Saturday, July 3rd, 2010
MEN WANTED
Thursday, May 6th, 2010The sum total of descriptive words in this want ad is twenty-five. Twenty-five words opened the door to any man who dared brave the unknown. Feeling a sense of adventure, I stepped through and discovered epic tales of expedition.
Bicycle History through Images
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
This isn’t the first, nor will it be the last, time I post some historic cycling images. These were found on The Photography Society of Canada’s website and accompany a brief essay by Lorne Shields.
Above is a factory image from Geneva, Ohio. It’s pretty fitting of the current “factory tour” trend. While fascinating, it pales in comparison to some very odd images of children and bicycles and one of General Tom Thumb and his wife. To minimize “weirdness” I’ve also selected a few tobacco cards.
Enjoy.
Cycle Show at Crystal Palace
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
Illustrated London News, December, 1901
Victorian and Edwardian Cycling Photos
Saturday, March 13th, 2010
I adore antique carte-de-visite and cabinet cards. The flowering of photography in the late 19th-century yields a cache of extraordinary images of everyday life and finds passions in the most obscure niches.
Cycling, like photography, grew exponentially in popularity in the 1890s, and it is from this period that these photographs were taken. Aside from the bikes, I do also love the dress. And, the posing of man, woman, and cycle. It’s street style, if you will, for the time. I’m loathe to go into a history of cycling in Victorian and Edwardian England – primarily because it is 9am on a rainy Saturday in Philadelphia, and also because I hope all viewers will get the same rich reactions from these photographs that I do. Enjoy.
All these photographs are sourced from the Richard Vaughan Personal Collection, which includes an absolutely amazing array of Victorian and Edwardian pieces.
Some personal favorites after the jump.
25th Infantry Bicycle Corps
Monday, February 1st, 2010During the month of February, Black History Month historically centers around names like Fredrick Douglas, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr, Malcom X, Rosa Parks, Huey Newton, Angela Davis, Muhammad Ali, Langston Hughes, Gordon Parks and so many others — and from now on, history will also celebrate President Barack Obama.
Today, however, I want to honor the nameless African American faces of Missoula, Montana’s 25th Infantry, who changed history in their own special way — by riding a bicycle.
Monarch American Bicycle
Friday, January 29th, 2010
Coming up to the auction block at Cowan’s on February 20, 2010. Lot #457.
Columbia Model 65 chainless bicycle, with aluminum label dating it to 1900. A male chainless pneumatic safety made by the American Bicycle Company, successors to Monarch Company. With original hard leather saddle seat and white-wall balloon tires; dia. 27 in. Also includes a 1897 oil lamp by Aladdin Lamp Company and bell set on cork-covered handlebars.
Provenance: Property from The Estate of H.H. Thomas, Lexington, Ky.
Condition: Original wheels have dryrot and frame has been cleaned.
(EST $600-$800)
Bone-Shaker Trade Sign
Sunday, January 24th, 2010Attended The American Antique Show at Metropolitan Pavilion in New York late last week. Among several good pieces this bone-shaker trade sign caught my eye.
The sign originates from Cape Cod and is dated ca. 187o.
Bicycle and Hearse Race
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
“There is a young woman in Minneapolis, Minn. who is a ’scorcher.’ This doesn’t really mean that there is anything against her character, but that she is simply a fast bicycle rider, always looking for a race with anything on wheels that comes along.”
The story of Helen Baldwin was published in The National Police Gazette on September 7, 1895. Full of rich description (including full run down of her cycling attire), the article outlines the sensation caused by the beautiful female rider and the burst of speed that allowed her to defeat a hearse, pulled by two horses, in an impromptu race. Baldwin shares that she is a professional racer, and that superstition held that if a hearse ever passed her on the road she might not live to see the next day.
A lovely example of the bicycle in 19th-century press, and a sterling example of Victorian sensation. This little story was apparently too big to be avoided. Simple moments like this are among the best in history.
The Out of Door Library
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
To begin, I’d like to thank Ben and Nathan for inviting me to join the Troops. Not only has it been a pleasure to watch Freeman grow over the past 18 months or so, it has been an even greater pleasure to work with both men on a few projects (cycling and otherwise). I hope to contribute something of worth here, and also something a little different from my norm.
Several weeks after I finished my master’s thesis (Inking Identity: Tattoo Flash and the Birth of An American Industry), I took up residence as curatorial fellow at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. My first task was to research and create a small exhibition about the velocipede in the collection. This was in line with the “boneshaker” a wooden framed vehicle with two metal wheels. I found that, for a short time, velocipede racing enjoyed a great vogue in New Bedford. Weekly races were held at disused factories (most velocipede racing was confined to indoor venues) and the winners were rewarded with hefty sums.
The velocipede vogue predates much early academic work on the bicycle. And, short lived as it was, is often forgotten. Today, I want to introduce some of the early thought about the bicycle as it relates to fitness. In 1897 Charles Scribner & Sons published The Out of Door Library. Three chapters are devoted to cycling – “Bicycling: the wheel of today,” “Women and the Bicycle,” and “A Doctor’s View of Bicycling.” These pages can be read through the magic of G00gle Books, and rather than recap, I thought it best to share the associated illustrations.
The style of the illustrations, particularly in the garments worn, really sums up cycling in the Victorian period. The image of ‘Correct Position’ is especially good.
Five or so more illustrations complement the selection from above if you read on.