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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. 

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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.

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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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