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iigure 5. — "Scenes and Incidents on Coney Island," Harper's Weekly Newspaper, August 18 78. 



(Smithsonian photo 59666.) 



and food; and guide ropes in tlie water for timid 

 bathers. 



In the 1890s foreign visitors were impressed by 

 American concern witli finding opportunities to play; 

 early in the century they had remarked on the appar- 

 ent lack of interest in amusements. The term, "sum- 

 mer resorts," no longer referred to a relatively small 

 number of fashionable watering places. The J^ew 

 York Tribune was running eight columns of summer 

 hotel advertisements aimed directly at the middle 

 class. The popular Summer Tourist and Excursion Guide 

 listed moderate-priced hotels and railroad excursions; 

 it was a far departure from the fashionable tour ol ihc 

 1840s. 



Thus, as economic and technological factors 

 changed, bathing was transformed from a medicinal 

 treatment for the leisure class to a recreation enjoyed 

 by a large portion of the population. 



SWIMMING 



As has been stated earlier, swimming was being 

 practiced by men in Europe when the early colonists 

 were leaving their old homes. Ne\-ertlieless, the task 

 of establishing new homes left them little time to 

 practice the "art of swimming" or to teach it to 

 fellow colonists. 



Benjamin Franklin is no doubt the most famous 

 early proponent of swimming in the colonies. In his 

 autobiography written in the form of a letter to his 

 son in 1771, Franklin revealed his early interest in 

 swimming. 



I had from a child been delighted with this c.\crcise, had 

 studied and piacticcd Thcvenot's motions and position, 

 and added some of my own, aiming at the graceful and 

 easy, as well as the u.scful.-'' 



-sJareu .Sparks, T/ie Works of Benjamin Franklii' (Boston: 

 Tappan and Whittcniorc, 1844), vol. I. pp. 63-64. 



PAPER 64: women's B.ATHING AND SWIM.MING COSTUME IN THE UNITED ST.VTES 



I! 



