Bicycle Cartoon and Advertisements, Puck Magazine, 1897

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 America 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 also contributed to social change in the United States as people were able more freely to move about, especially women. Clothing styles changed from corsets and long skirts to divided skirts and bloomers. Women enjoyed greater opportunities to leave their house without needing a chaperone. They could ride alone or with groups of other women. The independence bicycles offered to women came at a time when many women fought for equality in the form of woman suffrage 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.

Citations/For Further Reading:

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

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

Preview Activity

Look at It: Look at the cartoon and the advertisements on this page. Who might be the target audience? Why?

Post Activities 

Analyze:  How did the use of the bicycle connect to the broader social or political messages in the 1890s? What other groups of people would have benefited from the inexpensive transportation offered by the bicycle?

Artistic Expression: Imagine that you must market this bicycle on behalf of the company. Create an advertisement or poster that would attract new customers.

Think About It: Write a journal entry as if you were living in a major U.S. city in the 1890s and how a bicycle would have affected your daily routine.