• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository History ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations Summer 7-12-2019 Beach Bodies: Gender and the Beach in American Culture, 1880-1940 Margaret Elena DePond University of New Mexico - Main Campus Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds Part of the Cultural History Commons, History of Gender Commons, Social History Commons, United States History Commons, and the Women's History Commons Recommended Citation DePond, Margaret Elena. "Beach Bodies: Gender and the Beach in American Culture, 1880-1940." (2019). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds/265 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in History ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Margaret DePond Candidate History Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Virginia Scharff, chairperson L. Durwood Ball Shannon Withycombe Cathleen Cahill i BEACH BODIES: GENDER AND THE BEACH IN AMERICAN CULTURE, 1880–1940 by MARGARET DEPOND B.A., History, Dominican University of California, 2010 M.A., History, Claremont Graduate University, 2012 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy History The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico July 2019 ii For my family. And for Brandon. Who followed me to the desert so I could write about the sea. iii Acknowledgements I have many thanks to give for the help I received writing this dissertation and finishing my graduate degree. First of all, I would like to heartily thank my dissertation and Ph.D. advisor Dr. Virginia Scharff, for her constant advice and mentorship. Her cries of “onward” and “be the boss of this project” were my fodder for finishing. I would also like to thanks the remaining members of my committee: Durwood Ball for his vigilant editorial eye; Cathleen Cahill for planting the seed for this dissertation during a conversation about a seminar-paper topic, and Shannon Withycombe for stepping in at the last minute to ferry me across the dissertation defense. Many thanks also go to the admins in the history department: Yolanda, Dana, and Barbara without whose help I would have never filed the right paperwork, had anything signed, or made it past my first year of coursework. This dissertation would not have been possible without the service of so many archivists at the various libraries and repositories I visited for research. I thank them for trusting me with the documents and photographs they so lovingly care for and protect. Many thanks go out to the entire staff of the New Mexico Historical Review. The NMHR is the only place I can imagine spending my graduate career. Without it, I would have been be lost. Most importantly, I would like to thank my friends and family for supporting me through this dissertation experience. Candolin Cook, Guy McClellan, and Laura Powell: it is impossible to articulate how important my friends with them have been in this process. I hope to keep them close long after school is over. Not just in this dissertation, but every day, I give thanks for my amaZing parents and siblings. Their emotional iv support (monetary too sometimes), good humor, and love meant that I would always finish. And lastly, I would like to thank Brandon, who followed me (literally and figuratively) to the University of New Mexico and never doubted my success. I love you all. v BEACH BODIES: GENDER AND THE BEACH IN AMERICAN CULTURE, 1880–1940 by MARGARET DEPOND B.A., History, Dominican University of California, 2010 M.A., History, Claremont Graduate University, 2012 Ph.D., History, University of New Mexico, 2019 Abstract This dissertation argues that American beaches, within the world of leisure and pleasure, were significant contested spaces of social change and debate. Overtime, from about 1880 to 1940, social restrictions loosened at the beach, allowing men, women, and people of color to express themselves in ways that had been previously controlled, curtailed, or proscribed. The emergence of mass popular amusements at the beach attracted a wide array of the American population. Both working-class and middle-class Americans absorbed the culture of new beach attractions, such as amusement parks, piers, boardwalks, and bathhouses. In doing so, they interacted more with each other and, in turn, defined themselves by the type of beach vacations they could take. By 1940, the beach had become an essential vacation destination for Americans of all backgrounds. As more Americans from diverse backgrounds began taking vacations and visiting leisure spaces, beachgoing became a national experience. Beaches could accommodate those visitors who wanted long vacations, day-trippers, and people visiting just for an afternoon excursion. The beach became a quintessential American leisure destination where Americans experimented with gender roles and social interactions. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... iv Abstract ............................................................................................................................. vi Introduction .................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1: Resorts and Boardwalks ............................................................................... 1 Boardwalks, Piers, and Amusement Parks ................................................................... 10 Swimming, Sand, and Sun ............................................................................................. 23 In Search of Fun ............................................................................................................ 37 Chapter 2: Bathing Suit Wars ....................................................................................... 39 Before the Beach Babe .................................................................................................. 48 Taking the Plunge ......................................................................................................... 58 Censors on Patrol ......................................................................................................... 62 Tanning Hides ............................................................................................................... 71 The End of the Ordinances ........................................................................................... 77 Chapter 3: Bathing Beauties .......................................................................................... 81 Sennett’s Bathing Girls ................................................................................................. 84 From Bathing Beauties to Pageant Queens ................................................................ 101 Censors on and Off the Beach .................................................................................... 114 Chapter 4: Dangerous Waters ..................................................................................... 121 Women at the Helm ..................................................................................................... 134 Drowning in Racism ................................................................................................... 142 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 150 Works Cited ................................................................................................................... 156 Primary Materials ....................................................................................................... 156 Secondary Sources ...................................................................................................... 161 vii Introduction “Sometime between the first of June and the last of August,” read Taintor’s Guide Book from 1892, “a very large proportion of well-to-do citiZens of the civiliZed world pack their trunks and betake themselves to the sea-shore, some in search of health, some to amuse themselves, and others because it is the fashion.”1 Beginning in the 1850s and growing in popularity through the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, the beach was a place that Americans could go for rest, relaxation, and good times. Whether for the entire summer season, a few weeks, or just a few days, the beach appealed to a wide variety of people. But all resorts were not created equally. The wealthiest of Americans went to places like Newport in Rhode Island, and Manhattan Beach on Long Island. Coney Island and Atlantic City appealed to wide swaths of the population with large beaches and affordable accommodations. On the West Coast, the residents of Los Angeles emptied the city on beautiful weekends and took the electric railway down to the public beaches of Santa Monica, Ocean Park, and Venice Beach. African Americans, barred from the majority of popular beaches in the United States, created their own resorts, both publicly and privately owned.2 At times the social world of the beach mirrored that of the cities and towns that visitors came from, but at other times the beach offered people

Load more

  187

Copy Link