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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
Nowadays, exercise and fitness tips for women can be found in any magazine or website. But during the Victorian era, the “pallid, sickly look” was prized as the height of beauty for women. In the early 20th century, things changed and women were expected to be strong, ruddy, and physically fit. Exercise was recommended as a way for women to appear “fit” and shed pounds. However, due to scientific misconceptions of the time, many of these exercise tips may now seem useless or even ridiculous. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| August 31, 1902 | The latest exercise fad comes in the form of barrel rolling—using a barrel for fitness purposes. |
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| June 24, 1906 | Women are encouraged to canoe, walk, golf, swim, and play tennis with both hands over vacation. |
| November 25, 1906 | Women with cold feet are encouraged to make running motions while standing still, tiptoe up and down, and lie on the floor and move legs as though running a wheel. |
| July 28, 1907 | Exercise is recommended for girls because nowadays girls should be “strong and ruddy,” whereas before they were expected to be “frail” and “delicate.” |
| December 31, 1911 | Women are encouraged to keep fit by lifting imaginary pianos and removing corks from bottles. |
| October 25, 1912 | Billy Burke tells women to get slim by doing exercises that “stretch and wring the liver.” |
| July 13, 1914 | Women are encouraged to punch bags to improve their appearance and get a “round, full neck” and a “plump, smooth chest.” |
| September 1, 1915 | The “new perfect woman” stands 5 feet 4 inches and weighs 134 pounds, and women are encouraged to achieve this ideal through exercise. |
| September 28, 1915 | An American 1915 beauty displays a stretching exercise that is “better than medicine.” |
| April 13, 1921 | A “perfect girl” encourages other women to get her figure through exercise and housework. |
