![Early 1920s Maillot Pantaloon Postcard
In 1907, swimming champion and women’s liberationist Annette Kellerman was arrested for wearing this style bathing suit on the beach in Boston. By the 1930s, however, the maillot pantaloon silhouette was high fashion among the public and celebrities alike.
[Bikini Science]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BathingSuit1920s.jpg)
Early 1920s Maillot Pantaloon Postcard
In 1907, swimming champion and women’s liberationist Annette Kellerman was arrested for wearing this style bathing suit on the beach in Boston. By the 1930s, however, the maillot pantaloon silhouette was high fashion among the public and celebrities alike.
Fraulein Kussin and Mrs Edwards, who had a boxing match on March 7, 1912
(via rrosehobart)
Mrs. Lora Wagner
In 1914, Lora Wagner was among the small group of New York City teachers who challenged the policy against employing mothers as teachers (“mother-teachers”). Lora worked right up until her due date, a violation of school rules, and gave birth just 13 hours after leaving school with plans to return to work within days. She wrote to Mayor John Mitchel, asking him to advise the Board of Education to change the policy that automatically suspended female teachers after they gave birth.
From The New York Times:
“The opponents of the mother-teacher have failed to prove that maternity makes her less efficient. There should be one rule for all. Only a few months ago we granted a year’s leave of absence to a teacher to go West to tend to a sick foster father… Is it a crime to have children?”
Dr. Ira S. Wile
A mass rally was held at Washington Irving High School featuring Charlotte Perkins Gimore, and Fola La Follete (daughter of Belle Case La Follette). Although the mayor supported “mother-teachers” he did not overrule the school board. It was not until 1915 when the courts ruled in favor of Bridget Peixotto that female teachers in New York City were allowed to give birth without being suspended for neglect of duties.
New York City then adopted a policy of mandatory two year maternity leave once a teacher realized she was pregnant. This was a step forward in that it allowed women to return to their jobs unlike the earlier policy, although the leave was unpaid. In 1937, the required leave was reduced to 18 months with the option to extend leave by choice or return early if economically necessary. It wasn’t until a 1973 EEOC ruling that the length of maternity leave became a personal choice for teachers in New York City.
Curiously, Lora Wagner seems to have managed to not take a two year maternity leave. According to Kindergarten-Primary Magazine she was back at work in March 1915 after giving birth to her son Hans on October 31, 1914. She taught at Tottenville High School on Staten Island and lived so close by that she would go home at recess to nurse. Lora employed a nurse to watch her son, explaining “I love my work and would not give it up unless I had to. I get along very well and am much better and happier than I would be doing housework, which I hate.”
(via dendroica)
Getting ready for a night out…
Un Chapitre inedit de l’Histoire du Costume: Le Pantalon Feminin. Pierre Dufay, 1916.
“Bloomer Club” Cigar Box Cover
An 1890’s satiric lid for a cigar box, featuring women in the just-barely-acceptable new styles of skirtless knickerbockers (Bloomers) at a swanky social club. Of course, late-Victorian gender mores were still very rigid in many aspects of society, especially in formal settings, so this was an absurd satirical proposition.
The acceptable settings for bloomers (at least for the more progressively-minded - many people still felt scandalized by them in general) were not restricted to when one was bicycling. Sports such as basketball were also becoming more acceptable for women, and nonrestrictive clothing was a “must” in those arenas, as well.
Women, wheeling their way to first-wave feminism and suffrage.
“What if the bicycle girl does sit around in comfortable clothing instead of in a long silk skirt and tight corsets. What if she does chew gum and talk slang as long as she reaps enjoyment from it. There is enough misery in the world.”
I like this Dr. Neesen fellow. While most of his book is about general cycling information and instruction, his chapter on “Is the bicycle detrimental to women’s health?” was one of the finer screeds on the benefits of cycling, and on the fact that everyone would benefit if women were allowed to (and encouraged to) develop both their mental and physical strength. He saw the continual discouragement by some groups of men to be completely nonsensical from every angle.
Dr. Neesen’s Book on Wheeling: Hints and Advice to Men and Women from the Physician’s Standpoint. Victor Neesen, M.D., 1899.
Beula Merton, solo cornetist
1879 promotional card - Beula Merton was one of only a handful of successful female brass musicians before the 1930s, and apparently very skilled in multiple musical styles.
Guides, Chaperons, and Shoppers - from an 1880s book on professions for women.
