INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North 2keb Road, Ann Aiixjr MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 FROM BLOOMERS TO FLAPPERS: THE AMERICAN WOMEN’S DRESS REFORM MOVEMENT, 1840-1920 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Karen J. Kriebl, M.A. ifi in The Ohio State University 1998 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Leila Rupp, Adviser Professor Susan Hartmann Adviser Professor Mark Grimsley Department of History UMI Number: 9900862 Copyright 199 8 by Kriebl, Karen Joyce All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9900862 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Copyright by Karen Joyce Kriebl 1998 ABSTRACT When American women attempted to adopt alternative clothing to nineteenth- century fashions, they attracted scathing attention from middle-class American society. Women in trousers were publicly scorned. Past investigations into the subject of nineteenth-century dress reform conclude that the movement failed when reformers, unable to accept the public's ridicule, returned to their long skirts. In my analysis of the origins, development, and consequences of the U.S. dress reform movement from 1840 to 1920,1 assert that dress reform was an evolution rather than a revolution. I argue that dress reform was not an isolated and failed attempt in the mid-nineteenth century, but that there were significant continuities among diverse groups of dress reformers from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. The number of short dress garments, organizations, and individuals discussed in this work demonsmates that dress reform extended beyond the women's rights movement. The movement involved people as diverse as health reformers and water curists. utopian community members and women's rights leaders, farmers and travelers on the overland trail, cyclists, clubwomen, and even flappers. Arguments for health, physical mobility, emancipation, and expense - as well as the persistent opposition denouncing reformers as immodest, immoral, rebellious and mannish - link reformers together across the decades. Sometimes they shared interests with other dress reformers. Other times, their ideas diverged sharply. II By exploring the dress reform movement from the early women's rights critiques into the era of the New Woman, my study expands the history of women's activism and contributes to our understanding of the relationship between social movements and social change. The commitment and innovation of the dress reformers, together with larger social forces, propelled the general public gradually to implement changes in women's dress by 1920. m To my father who always wanted a doctor in the family IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is a pleasure to thank those who have helped me in the long project of researching and writing this dissertation. My greatest debt is to Leila Rupp, my advisor, who conceptualized the project and guided the research. My dissertation benefited immeasurably from her careful readings of drafts and meaningful suggestions. Leila's friendship and belief in my work kept me going over the years. 1 am obliged to my committee, Susan Hartmann, Mark Grimsley, and Patricia A. Cunningham, for their useful questions, insightful criticisms, and support. Also, 1 could not have undertaken this project without the expert help from librarians and archivists at The Ohio State University. The Ohio Historical Society, Boston Public Library, Schlesingcr Library, Smith College Library, Cortland County Historical Society, Seneca Falls Historical Society. Historical Society of Middletown, and The George Arents Research Library at Syracuse University. 1 was fortunate to receive the Graduate School Research Grant from Ohio State University which permitted the opportunity to U"avel and do research. Finally, thanks to my husband, my mother, and my daughter. Their patience and support during this long process helped to make it all possible. VITA August 3, 1963 Bom - Willoughby, Ohio 1989 ...................................................................................................... B.A., Miami University, Miami, Ohio 1991 M.A., Department of History. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 1993-1995 ......................................................................................................Teaching Assistant, Department of History, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1995-Present ......................................................................... Instructor, Department of History, Capital University, Columbus, Ohio PUBLICATIONS "Designs for the Home: Women Craftsmen of the Rookwood Pottery of Cincinnati" in The Middle Ground: Women and the Transcendence o f Domesticity in the Midwest. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: History VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Page A bstract............................................................................................................................... ii D edication .......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowiegments ............................................................................................................. v V ita........................................................................................................................................ vi Chapters: 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 2 The Water Curists .................................................................................................... 17 3. The Bloomeritcs ....................................................................................................... 34 4. The Trouser-Clad Women at Work ...................................................................... 55 5. The National Dress Reform Association ............................................................. 69 6. The Clubwomen ....................................................................................................... 84 7. The New W om an ..................................................................................................... 101 8. Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 115 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................... 124 vu CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Eliza Famham came to California in 1849 to look after the farm her husband had left her in Santa Cruz. She migrated from the east with a friend and her two sons. What she found when she arrived was a rough dwelling without doors or windows. Eliza later tells of her endeavor to rebuild her new home: 1 commenced my new business in the ordinary long dress, but its extreme inconvenience in displacing all the smaller tools, effacing lines, and flying in the teeth of the saw, induced me, after the second day, to try the suit 1 had worn at home in gymnastic exercises. It is the same that has since become famous as the Bloomer, though then the name had not been heard of. When 1 had once put it on, 1 could never get back into skirts during working hours.* Eliza at first was cautious never to be seen in her working clothes, but the comfort she felt soon overrode her embarrassment so that she wore her "bloomers" throughout the day. Eliza and other women who went west learned quickly that wearing trousers while traveling across the prairies and mountains or working in the mining camps or doing the daily outdoor work was more practical than long dresses and petticoats. Even if only a handful of women took to wearing pants or "bloomers," that some did suggests that there is more to the story of the American Dress Reform movement than the calls for equal rights back east. Women's dress did change from the 1840s to the •Eliza Famham,California In-doors and Out (New York; Dix, Edwards, & Co., 1856): 108. 1