Bicycle Cartoon and Advertisements, Puck Magazine, 1897

CONTENT WARNING

Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation.

Context

By the 1870s, bicycles and tricycles using wire-spoked wheels were common, particularly in England. Albert A. Pope became the first American bicycle manufacturer under the trade name “Columbia” in Connecticut in 1878.

The popularity of bicycles in the United States increased rapidly in the 1890s with the advent of the safety bicycle featuring equal-sized wheels that allowed the rider's feet to reach the ground. Automobiles were expensive and not widely available, horses were increasingly difficult to keep in growing urban areas. Although bicycle culture became a national phenomenon, bicycles were only available to those who could afford them.

Bicycles contributed to social change in the United States as people were able to move about without needing to have access to a horse or carriage. Such personal mobility offered women, in particular, greater opportunities outside the home. The popularity of bicycles contributed to changes in fashion from corsets and long skirts to divided skirts and even bloomers. The independence bicycles offered to women came at a time when many women fought for equality in the form of voting rights and equal access to education and professional opportunities. Susan B. Anthony reportedly claimed in 1896 that "the bicycle has done more for the emancipation of women than anything else in the world."

Virginians embraced cycling. Local newspapers included advertisements offering bicycles designed for female riders and women’s fashions for bicycling. National periodicals also published stories, articles, and cartoons about bicycling. Puck was one of the first successful humor magazines in the United States with its colorful, witty cartoons covering politics and social issues late in the 19th century. In this cartoon from an 1897 issue of Puck, the cartoonist shows a novice rider concentrating on her bicycle. Several of the advertisements on the page are for bicycles and accessories.

Citation: Puck Magazine, v. 41, no. 1046, Mar. 24, 1897, Rare Book Collection, Manuscripts & Special Collections, Library of Virginia.

See more advertisements and political and social cartoons from Puck Magazine in our online catalog.

For more information see Hannah Ostroff, "How the 19th-century bicycle craze empowered women and changed fashion," Smithsonian Sparks, https://www.si.edu/stories/19th-century-bicycle-craze.