May Bragdon

May Bragdon

An image of May Bragdon in Highland Park, Rochester, N.Y.

The bicycle craze of the 1890s provided another opportunity for women to exert independence, as well as to improve their health. For Rochesterian May Bragdon, “flying freely down a hill” on the bicycle she named Diana provided a sense of exhilaration and freedom. Many female bicyclists adopted Bloomer-style athletic wear. While humor magazines satirized them as “mannishly dressed menaces,” bicycle advertisements offered visual reassurance that women could ride with both grace and modesty.

May Bragdon served as executive secretary to Rochester architect and inventor of the mail chute J.G. Cutler and later as office manager for her brother Claude’s architectural firm. Her diaries provide a glimpse into the life of a typical educated, unmarried, young working women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

unknown

1896

University of Rochester - River Campus Libraries Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation