Muscle on wheels : Louise Armaindo and the high-wheel racers of nineteenth-century America

249 Pages·2018·11.257 MB·English

by  Margaret Ann Hall

Muscle on Wheels

M U S C L E
on
W H E E L S
Louise Armaindo
and the
High-Wheel Racers
of
Nineteenth-Century America
m. ann hall
McGill-Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston • London • Chicago
©McGill-Queen’s University Press 2018
isbn978-0-7735-5465-8(cloth)
isbn978-0-7735-5532-7(epdf)
isbn978-0-7735-5533-4(epub)
Legal deposit third quarter 2018
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free
(100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards
to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Funding has also
been provided by the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation at the
University of Alberta.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which
last year invested $153million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout
the country.
Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier,
le Conseil a investi 153millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des
Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Hall, M. Ann (Margaret Ann), 1942–, author
Muscle on wheels : Louise Armaindo and the high-wheel racers of nineteenth-
century America / M. Ann Hall.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
isbn978-0-7735-5465-8(hardcover).–isbn978-0-7735-5532-7(epdf).
isbn978-0-7735-5533-4(epub)
1. Bicycle racing –History –19th century. 2. Bicycles –History –19th
century. 3. Armaindo, Louise, 1857–1900. 4. Women cyclists –Canada –
Biography. 5. Cyclists –Canada –Biography. 6. Women cyclists –
History –19th century. 7. Bicycles –Social aspects –19th century. I. Title.
gv1049.h35 2018 796.6'209034 c2018-901661-2
c2018-901662-0
This book was designed and typeset by studio oneonone in Sabon 10.3/13.5
And the women were there, what a price they had paid
To be at that table so finely displayed
And now I can see at last
The past is before me and the women are there
From Judy Fjell’s song “The Dinner Party”

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 3
1
Circuses and Walking Tracks, 1870s 19
2
Pedestriennes, 1878–1880 37
3
Early Bicycliennes, 1879–1882 58
4
Champion Bicyclienne, 1883 74
5
Muscle on Wheels, 1884 86
6
Just One of the Guys, 1885–1888 99
7
Beauty on Wheels, 1888–1890 118
8
Safeties, Backlash, and Disaster, 1890–1896 140
Epilogue 163
appendices
1
Louise Armaindo: Pertaining to 171
Her Background
2
“Louise Viellard Sainte-Foix”: A Story 175
by Elia W. Peattie

Notes 183
Bibliography 215
Index 225

Acknowledgments
This book took a long time to research and write. I worked on it
steadily for several years, and during that time encountered many
people who were not only enthusiastic supporters of the project, but
also willing helpers in the search for information. Most I have never
met in person, but our email and phone conversations were often
exhilarating and always helpful. April Streeter, who is writing a novel
about Louise Armaindo, shared interesting tidbits from her research. I
owe much to Gherardo Bonini at the European University Institute in
Italy, and to Dag Hammar, a cycling historian in Sweden, for their sup -
port and willingness to provide me with newspaper articles and photos,
and best of all, for their helpful advice.
I did meet Lorne Shields, who became a friend. He has amassed one
of the finest collections of all things related to the bicycle, and his
knowledge of bicycle history is unsurpassed. I sought his advice countless
times. Along with cycling historian John Weiss, he was always on the
lookout for interesting bicycle ephemera and archival photos, some of
which are included in this book. One of their finds was the delightful
poster used on the book’s cover. It was painstakingly scanned and dig-
itally restored by Paula Aurini-Onderwater.
A project like this depends on the many archivists and reference li-
brarians who kindly and expediently answer inquiries. I am in debt to
those who assisted me at the following institutions: American Anti-
quarian Society; Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley;