Connie King, Curator of Women’s History, wrote about this piece of sheet music: ‘The woman bicyclis
Connie King, Curator of Women’s History, wrote about this piece of sheet music: ‘The woman bicyclist on the cover of this sheet music is the “scorcher,” slang for a bicycle racer. In the 1860s, calling a woman bicyclist a “scorcher” would have had profoundly negative connotations, suggesting wild hedonism (of a gender-inappropriate kind!). But by the 1890s, the negative connotations had diminished and both men and women were happily riding bicycles, joining bicycle clubs, and … apparently … dancing to music inspired by bicycling.’According to suffragist Susan B. Anthony, bicycling “did more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.” Check out Connie King’s blog post about women and bicycling here (and for information about her upcoming collection review) here.George Rosey. The scorcher: march and two-step. New York: Jos. W. Stern & Co., [1897?] -- source link
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