Connie King, Curator of  Women’s History, wrote about this piece of sheet music: ‘The woman bicyclist on the cover of this sheet music is the “scorcher,” slang for a bicycle racer. In the 1860s, calling a woman bicyclist a “scorcher” would have had profoundly negative connotations, suggesting wild hedonism (of a gender-inappropriate kind!). But by the 1890s, the negative connotations had diminished and both men and women were happily riding bicycles, joining bicycle clubs, and … apparently … dancing to music inspired by bicycling.’

According to suffragist Susan B. Anthony, bicycling “did more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.” Check out Connie King’s blog post about women and bicycling here (and for information about her upcoming collection review) here.

George Rosey. The scorcher: march and two-step. New York: Jos. W. Stern & Co., [1897?]

Among his many interests, Marriott C. Morris was a fan of bicycling. Whether playing with his children or taking extended trips, Morris had joined in on a craze that swept America and Europe in the late Victorian period. Interested in the many images of bicycles and bicycling parties within the Marriott C. Morris Collection, Curatorial and Reading Room Assistant Emma Ricciardi wrote a quick history of the bicycle. Read more about her research on the Library Company blog: http://librarycompany.org/news/

#MorrisMonday

Morris, Marriott Canby, 1863-1948, photographer. Miss Schenkl on a tricycle, back of Hamilton H. [Bermuda] March 26, 1886 1 photograph: glass plate negative; 4 x 5 in.