Japanese women bathing in the courtyard.

Hand-tinted albumen print by Kusakabe Kimbei, ca. 1885.

cabbagingcove:

Thoroughbred “Parole”

Parole was an American-born thoroughbred, foaled in 1873, with 138 starts, 59 wins, 28 places, and 17 shows (wins = 1st place, places = 2nd place, and shows = 3rd place). He earned $82,816 in his racing career, which is over $2,000,000 in today’s dollars. His stud fees after retirement brought in significant income to his owners, as well. His offspring were not as profitable as him.

Album of celebrated American and English running horses. 1888.

(via stupidreblog)

“Women with Rifles”

Studio portrait of Emma Protz, Clara Tester, and a friend, with their shooting club rifles. The Alma Schuetzenverein was a target-shooting club for women, founded on the basis as the same type of club found in Switzerland.

Wisconsin Historical Society Digital Archives. Gesell Gerhard Collection.

centuriespast:

Blackfoot Brave with Pony

William McFarlane Notman (Canadian, 1826–1891)

1889. Albumen silver print

MoMA

centuriespast:

Woman Jumping, Running Straight High Jump: Plate 156 from Animal Locomotion (1887)

Eadweard J. Muybridge (American, born England. 1830–1904)

1884-86.

MoMA

oldrags:

Adelina Patti by James Sant, ca 1886, National Portrait Gallery, London

The Italian opera singer Adelina Patti, the last of the line of great coloratura sopranos, made her London debut on 14 May 1861 at the Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden, as Amina in Bellini’s La Sonnambula. In this and other roles, particularly that of Rosina in The Barber of Seville, she delighted audiences throughout Europe and in North and South America. Her public career lasted nearly sixty years and is virtually without parallel.

Thoroughbred “Parole”

Parole was an American-born thoroughbred, foaled in 1873, with 138 starts, 59 wins, 28 places, and 17 shows (wins = 1st place, places = 2nd place, and shows = 3rd place). He earned $82,816 in his racing career, which is over $2,000,000 in today’s dollars. His stud fees after retirement brought in significant income to his owners, as well. His offspring were not as profitable as him.

Album of celebrated American and English running horses. 1888.

(Source: archive.org)

Thoroughbred horse “Exile” with jockey

The Forgotten Athletes

One of the most overlooked aspects in the history of horse racing is the legacy of the African-American jockeys.

As thoroughbred horse racing first boomed in the Southern United States, slaves were the ones who cared for, lived with, and trained most of the horses. They were natural selections to be the ones who ran the horses in the races.

The Smithsonian magazine article linked above is a good overview of the position of non-whites on the track - even in the biggest races, like the Kentucky Derby, race was irrelevant. Only the colors of their silks (representing their stable) mattered. In fact, in the first Kentucky Derby (in 1875), thirteen of the fifteen jockeys were African-American, representing stables from both the North and the South.

Since the 1910s, however, African-American jockeys have been extremely scarce. Due to increasing racism and discrimination, many of the best jockeys of the late-19th century left for Europe, and both jockeyed and trained some of the best European (especially French) racing horses in history.

About the Horse

Exile was a thoroughbred born in the United States, with an English sire and French dam. He raced predominantly in the Northeast, and won the Twin City Handicap two years in a row. Most of his purses were for placing or showing, however. The Kentucky Derby winner for 1909, Wintergreen, was sired by Exile.

Source: Album of Celebrated American and English Racing Horses. Kinney Bros. Tobacco Company, 1888.

Ostap Veresai, the Ukrainian singer, playing the kobza

The kobza is a traditional Ukrainian instrument, closely related to the lute-like mandora of Central Europe. It was traditionally unfretted, though modern versions of the instrument often incorporate frets.

“Kobza” is occasionally used as a term for other instruments in Ukraine, but the official definition of the word refers to this traditional chordophone. Ostap Veresai was considered the foremost kobza player (and still is, within traditional music circles), despite the fact that he only referred to his instrument as a “bandura”. Though the terms are often used interchangeably in both Ukrainian and English, banduras are technically a different instrument, though of the same origin - both are derived from the mandora.