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Birth of the American Calisthenics Movement

By Elizabeth A. Topping, featuring images and artifacts from the the author’s collection. 

Calisthenics were introduced to Americans by Europeans in the 1830s. Light, choreographed movements set to music exercised large muscle groups for men and women. The routines resembled dance steps, which appealed to the ideal of feminine beauty and grace. The exercises involved dumbbells, rings, and wands.

Uniforms were not necessarily required. Men and boys could simply remove their coats and exercise in shirts and trousers. Women and girls, whose everyday wear was restrictive, made a loose-fitting gymnastic costume imperative.

Modeling gymnastics wear, from the February 1865 issue of Demorest’s Illustrated Monthly fashion magazine.
Modeling gymnastics wear, from the February 1865 issue of Demorest’s Illustrated Monthly fashion magazine.
Page from the James H. Smart’s 1864 guide, A Manual of Free Gymnastic Dumb-Bell Exercises.
Page from the James H. Smart’s 1864 guide, A Manual of Free Gymnastic Dumb-Bell Exercises.

One of the country’s early advocates for women’s education, Catharine Esther Beecher, the daughter of prominent religious leader Lyman Beecher and half-sister of Uncle Tom’s Cabin author Harriet Beecher Stowe, introduced calisthenics for girls at her Western Female Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her 1856 manual, Physiology and Calisthenics for Schools and Families, enabled families to perform these light exercises at home.

Exercising with a wand. Carte de visite by Currier of Amesbury, Mass.
Exercising with a wand. Carte de visite by Currier of Amesbury, Mass.
Left: The girl seated in front peers through a ring, and her friends pose with dumbbells and wands. Carte de visite by an unidentified photographer. Right: Girls in gymnastics costumes. Carte de visite by an unidentified photographer.
Left: The girl seated in front peers through a ring, and her friends pose with dumbbells and wands. Carte de visite by an unidentified photographer. Right: Girls in gymnastics costumes. Carte de visite by an unidentified photographer.
Left: Woman holding a wand. A dumbbell and rings sit on the column next to her. Carte de visite by an unidentified photographer. Right: Girl with ring and dumbbells. Carte de visite by an unidentified photographer.
Left: Woman holding a wand. A dumbbell and rings sit on the column next to her. Carte de visite by an unidentified photographer. Right: Girl with ring and dumbbells. Carte de visite by an unidentified photographer.

Before the mid-19th century, physical exercise had been considered unfeminine and could result in a more ungraceful, masculine physique. Those who began the physical education movement, like Beecher, advocated adequate exercise, proper diet and clothing, cleanliness, and fresh air for girls to prepare their bodies for the ordeals of motherhood. Exercises, she and others believed, created healthy and mentally vibrant mothers to raise the nation’s next generation.


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