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Episode 1: Free Wheeling Women
The evolving relationship between women and cycling is one that tells of a changing landscape in every avenue. From fashion and liberation, to an entirely new way to exist within the public sphere, both equally and independently of men.
This podcast tells the stories of the wheeling women of Rochester including May Brandon, Francis E. Willard and our most well-known suffragette, Susan B. Anthony.



Grace Stensland
Sound Engineer
Sarah Knight
Producer
Grace Timerman
Lead Researcher

Works Cited
Beard, Linda, and Adelia B. Beard. “Chapter XLIII: Bycycling.” The American Girl’s Handy
Book, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1901, pp. 469–484.
Bly, Nellie. “Susan B. Anthony.” Around the World in Seventy-Two Days and Other Writings,
Penguin Classics, 2014.
Bradley, Will. Columbia Bicycles : Pope Manufacturing Co., Makers, Hartford, Conn. Hartford, Conn: Pope Manufacturing Co., 1896. Print.
Bragdon, May. May Bragdon Diaries. 1895-1909. Mary Bragdon Diaries. University of
Rochester, River Campus Libraries.
“Does the Bicycle Make Women Cruel?” Democrat and Chronicle [Rochester], 13 June 1897. Newspapers.com.
Dressler, William. The Bloomer Waltz / Composed by William Dressler. Wm. Hall & Son, 1851.
Friss, Evan. “Riding for Reform: Wheelwomen.” The Cycling City: Bicycles and Urban America
in The 1890s, University of Chicago Press, 2015, pp. 160-185, https://ebookcentral.
proquest.com/lib/rochester/reader.action?docID=4003788&ppg=1.
Longhurst, James. “The Right Sort of People.” Bike Battles : A History of Sharing the American
Road, University of Washington Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcent
ral.proquest.com/lib/rochester/detail.action?docID=3444642.
Marcotte, Bob. “May Bragdon Diaries offer online window into Rochester's past.” University of Rochester: News Center, 1 September 2016, https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/may-bragdons-diaries-offer-window-into-past-179052/.
McCally, Karen. “Bloomers & Bicycles: Health and Fitness in Victorian Rochester.” Rochester History, vol. LXIX, no. No.2, 2008. Monroe County Library System,
Rosen, Jody. “Bicycle Planet.” Two Wheels Good: The History and Mystery
of the Bicycle, The Crown Publishing Group, 2022, pp. 16-30. https://ebookcentral.
proquest.com/lib/rochester/reader.action?docID=6816192&ppg=30.
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