Sport History Review, 2010, 41, 111-131
© 2010 Human Kinetics, Inc.
Considering The Sportswoman,
1924 to 1936: A Content Analysis
Lynn E. Couturier
SUNY Cortland
On this, the first day of September, 1924, we, the Editors of the SPORTSWOMAN,
make our bow to the public. After a long and laborious struggle, mainly on
the part of schools and colleges, and recently on the part of the United
States Field Hockey Association, women’s athletics are at last coming
into their own. We feel therefore that it is a propitious moment for the
SPORTSWOMAN to enter the arena, confident that a woman’s
magazine, published by women, devoted to all forms of sports
in which women take part, linking together the interests of all
players and keeping them in touch with each other’s
achievements, will supply a real need. We have confidence
also in our public. We write only for true lovers of sport. They
alone will be our readers. Others will not be interested.1
This epigraph is the opening paragraph of the first issue of a periodical named
The Sportswoman, and it set the tone for a truly ambitious undertaking. While
women’s magazines had long been a staple of the periodical market, this one
was of the first to be expressly committed to women’s sports or women athletes.2
Even the idea of women as athletes was relatively new in 1924, so a “fortnightly
magazine dedicated to athletics for women” was indeed breaking new ground.3 The
founders were confident that there existed a critical mass of women interested in
sport and that those women would support the new magazine. Their perspective
was grounded by their involvement in the fledgling United States Field Hockey
Association (USFHA) and in their experiences as teachers, coaches, and players
in schools and colleges. It was a time of greater visibility and expanding athletic
opportunities for women—seemingly an opportune moment to introduce a magazine
to serve this emerging market.
The 1920s are often referred to as the Golden Age of Sport for men, but they
are also considered the “first wave of athletic feminism” for women.4 Since the
lifespan of the magazine roughly parallels this critical period in the development
of women’s sports, the Sportswoman represents a kind of time capsule that allows
Lynn E. Couturier is with the Department of Physical Education, SUNY Cortland, Cortland, NY.
111
112 Couturier
an examination of women’s sport in this period. The magazine, however, has significance beyond the confines of women’s sports. Through its coverage of certain
segments of women’s athletic experience and omission of others, the Sportswoman
captures broader social tensions over gender relations and class values. From this
perspective, the Sportswoman becomes an important instrument for the study of
sport, class, and gender in American culture. This article will present a content
analysis of the Sportswoman, highlight the major themes in the magazine, and
discuss their significance for the study of class and gender in this period.
A Decade of Shifting Expectations
The 1920s were a period of rapid technological innovation and changing social
values. The growing reach of mass media (movies, radio, magazines, and newspapers) into Americans’ homes was creating a new national culture and one important
aspect of that culture was sport.5 According to Lynn Dumenil, “sports embodied leisure, and offered escape from the workaday world; in addition it helped to enshrine
commercialized youth and vitality as central parts of the consumer culture.”6 The
popularity of sports was also connected to its ability to represent old-fashioned
values such as hard work and discipline.7 The elevation of male and female athletes
to celebrity status in this era reflected the power of the new media and embodied
American’s desire for youthful vitality alongside a traditional work ethic.
Mark Dyreson observed that “the emergence in the public culture of the 1920s
and 1930s of accomplished female athletes in high-profile competitions created a
debate about women’s roles in American society in the wake of shifting political,
legal, and cultural conceptions of womanhood.”8 These shifting conceptions were
the result of several developments: women assuming traditionally male roles during
World War I and continuing to move into the white-collar work force; women’s
recent political equality, gained through suffrage in 1920; and new theories in
psychology, which promulgated the idea that men and women were sexual beings.
Victorian ideals of women’s chastity and moral superiority were undermined as
the image of the flapper, with her aberrant behavior and dress, became the visible
manifestation of women’s new social freedoms.9
Attitudes about gender roles, however, did not necessarily keep pace with
these social changes. According to Dave Kaszuba, “the landscape was dotted
with passionate feminists, staunch chauvinists, and a silent majority caught in
between—people who were supportive of women’s advances in certain arenas but
not quite sure how to react to every new circumstance involving the ‘new woman’.”
10 Women’s theoretical equality challenged the old assumptions about what was
inherently masculine and feminine. The idea of equality between men and women
was unsettling and as Susan Cahn noted, the period was “marked by a new wariness
and, at times, a barely suppressed hostility in gender relations.”11 Thus, as women
moved further into competitive athletics, their performance challenged stereotypes
about women’s physical abilities as well as pushed the boundaries of what was
formerly considered masculine territory within the greater context of social unease
about changing gender roles.12 Women’s sports became “an important symbolic as
well as actual arena of competition.”13
Considering The Sportswoman 113
As the 1920s began, women’s sport was in a state of flux. There was no single,
cohesive model of sport for women. Social attitudes about organized sport for girls
and women varied a great deal by region, class, and race. Collegiate sport was tightly
controlled by women physical educators, who focused on health, development, and
participation for all. In spite of this, some varsity sport existed, with approximately
20% of colleges reporting some intercollegiate competition in a 1916 survey.14 In
high schools, there was substantial variation in programs. Many rural school districts
and urban school systems sponsored interscholastic competition, with basketball
being one of the most popular sports for girls.15 Track and field meets and field
hockey games were also conducted at the interscholastic level.
Community organizations, industrial recreation leagues, and sport organizations
were sponsoring teams for girls and women at varying degrees of competitiveness.16
Minority women took part in community-based sport activities and some African
American women at historically black colleges participated in intramurals and
intercollegiate sport.17 Many working-class women and girls, as well as some high
school girls, played sports in which they were coached by men.
The year 1922 would prove to be an important year in the development of
women’s sport. It was in this year that the United States Field Hockey Association
(USFHA) was founded by a group of women intent on providing competitive opportunities primarily for post-collegiate women. One of those women was Constance
Applebee, the well-known ambassador of the game in its migration from England
to the United States. Americans had long taken their cues about class-appropriate
sport from the English, who were thought to epitomize the amateur sporting model.18
The USFHA was not the only sport organization for women in the United States,
but it had the advantages of having prominent women physical educators among
the ranks of its founders. It also had the social acceptability of an English game
played primarily by women in this country and thus had no taint of masculinity.19
In the same year, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) decided to select and
send a team of women track and field athletes to the Paris Women’s International
Athletic Games. Although the AAU had assumed control of women’s swimming
at the national level in 1914 with little protest, this new resolution by the organization carried the presumption that the AAU would now regulate women’s sport.20
This was clearly an incursion into what women physical educators perceived as
their territory and it galvanized them into action. They resigned from the AAU
and formed the Women’s Division of the recently established National Amateur
Athletic Federation (WDNAAF). The WDNAAF developed a platform in 1923 that
severely curtailed competition for women and opposed any elite or international
competition.21 The platform further specified the importance of mass participation,
the need for women to supervise women in athletics, and strict adherence to the
ideals of amateurism. The platform was endorsed by all the professional organizations connected to women’s college sport.22
Women physical educators were intent on maintaining control of women’s
sport and keeping the well-publicized abuses of men’s athletics away. 23 Their
platform reflected a professional philosophy (strongly infused with middle-class
values) that alienated working-class athletes. Women physical educators campaigned vigorously for their platform, using multiple professional organizations
and publications to promote their ideas and activities. They claimed that they were
114 Couturier
not against competition, but it had to be the “right kind.”24 Their substitution for
interscholastic and intercollegiate sport was the play day, a field day of sorts with
numerous games and activities held once a season or once a year. It was as much
social as competitive, with teams comprised of girls from all the different schools,
no coaching was permitted, and no scores were kept.25
The conflict over what sort of sport was appropriate for women (and who
would control it) was a reflection of the tensions in the culture over changing gender
dynamics. Social acceptance of women athletes was not a given, even in the era of
the flapper. For some, women athletes represented modernity; for others, they were
a threat to the social order. It was in this contested environment, where women’s
sport was both supported and not supported, that the Sportswoman was launched.
The New Venture
The driving force behind the Sportswoman was the USFHA and in particular, Constance Applebee. “The Apple,” as she was called, was a well-known promoter for
field hockey during its migration from England to the United States. She modeled
the Sportswoman after an English magazine called the Hockey Field, which had
already been in publication for more than two decades.26 When the first issue of the
Sportswoman came out in 1924, Applebee was listed as the editor. She would remain
editor through most of magazine’s existence and for a time, she would serve as the
magazine’s president and owner. Among the contributing editors for the inaugural
issue were Helen Krumbhaar (president of the USFHA), Anne Townsend (captain
of the U.S. Field Hockey Team), and Cynthia Wesson (a Bryn Mawr alumna who
had played field hockey for Applebee and a future USFHA president). All four of
these individuals had been part of the formation committee for the USFHA two years
before and would remain involved with the Sportswoman for many years to come.27
The names of the contributors to the Sportswoman were identified about half
the time. These authors were predominantly female, a pattern that held truest in
the early years. The majority were representatives of sport organizations (such as
the USFHA), elite athletes, or contributors from college and universities. The colleges’ presence in the Sportswoman reflected different types of schools from all
around the country. The women’s colleges were heavily represented, but so were
large universities like Wisconsin, Arizona, Texas, and UCLA.
Among elite athlete authors, tennis players and golfers contributed most
frequently to the Sportswoman. Glenna Collett wrote several articles and was a
contributing editor for a period. Similarly, Helen Jacobs wrote about tennis and
Maribel Vinson wrote about figure skating. All three were national champions in
their respective sports. There were also many articles written by members of the
All-England field hockey and lacrosse teams, generally in the instructional category.
The use of these elite athletes as authors lent both the sheen of star power and an
aura of legitimacy to the Sportswoman.
The magazine debuted at an auspicious moment. The growth of women’s
sport in various settings and the national media attention given to stars like Helen
Wills and Glenna Collett seemed to support the idea that there was substantial
and genuine interest in women’s sports. Meanwhile, the USFHA was growing in
membership and ambition. Its success almost certainly bolstered the confidence
Considering The Sportswoman 115
of the Sportswoman’s founders with regard to their ability to start a new venture
related to women’s sports. The magazine was intended to be “the vehicle of all our
[USFHA] news and notices so that anyone subscribing to it will be kept in touch
with all the news of the hockey world.”28 Thus, the Sportswoman started with a
built-in readership of hockey players as it sought a broader audience of women
interested in “school, college, club and association activities.”29
The founders of the Sportswoman initially counted on USFHA members
and educational institutions for financial support, but a prosperous economy and
increasing advertising budgets seemed to indicate the publication could eventually become self-supporting. As David Reed, a scholar of periodicals, has noted,
“a surge in disposable income coincides with a major increase in the size of a
magazine market.”30 Clearly, as the first issue of the Sportswoman was sent out,
the women had high hopes and “confidence also in [their] public.”31 That first
issue was a very basic affair consisting of eight pages of content and a simple
cover with no illustration. Nearly six of those pages covered field hockey material.
Over time, the magazine became more sophisticated in its design and swelled to
as many as thirty pages of content covering a wide variety of sports and sportrelated topics. By the time publication ceased in 1936, the appearance and tone
of the Sportswoman were quite different from the educational newsletter started
by the original editorial staff.
Analyzing the Magazine
In order to describe the material in the magazine as well as identify the major themes
presented in its pages, a content analysis was performed on every available issue of
the Sportswoman over its twelve-year lifespan. In general, the magazine followed
the academic year, with each volume starting in September and ending in June. The
alignment of the Sportswoman with the academic year reflected the educational
professions of the magazine’s founders, as well as their target audience—schools
and colleges. In the first two years of publication, the Sportswoman came out every
two weeks for ten months a year. Over the next nine years, the magazine appeared
monthly except for July and August. In year twelve, the magazine went to a twelvemonth publication schedule, but issues 4 and 5 were combined, so there were only
eleven possible issues. The Sportswoman ended halfway through its thirteenth year
of publication—at least no record can be found of any issue after December 1936
(Volume 13, issue 4). In total, it appears that 145 issues were published, of which
143 were reviewed for this analysis.
Notes were taken on each issue regarding the title, author, content, and length
of each article. Following the example of Reed’s study of popular magazines, the
number of pages devoted to each article was used as the unit of measurement.32
Unlike the Reed study, the pages were not physically measured in square millimeters. Instead, the page length was estimated in quarter page units. While not as
precise, this estimation allowed for a reasonable determination of the amount of
space devoted to a particular topic. After collecting the information, the content
was coded by subject and type of article and entered into a spreadsheet for further
analysis.33 In addition, the level of athletics (college, school girls, club, or elite)
addressed by the article was entered into the spreadsheet. If the article contained
116 Couturier
photos or illustrations, or if it was listed under a department, a notation was made.
Finally, information regarding the types of advertisements and the number of pages
they filled was also collected. A total of 2547.25 pages of text were coded, excluding advertisements, which were analyzed separately. By sorting this information
in a variety of ways, the content patterns of the Sportswoman began to emerge.
Content Patterns of The Sportswoman
Given the quantity and range of content in the magazine, there are countless possibilities for analysis and discussion. For the purposes of this paper, article subjects,
article types, and levels of competition will be examined in depth. These major
areas provide a platform for discussing important gender and class interactions
during the 1920s and early 1930s.
Article Subjects
An examination of the top-ten subjects in the Sportswoman provides some indication of what the editors thought their readers’ interests were (see Table 1). Field
hockey filled more pages than any other subject by far, accounting for more than
one-quarter of all content over the twelve-year span. The multi-sport classification
(given to those articles in which several sporting events were briefly summarized in
two or three sentences) comprised nearly 15% of all coverage and were intended
to keep readers informed of results in women’s sports at all levels of competition. Multi-sport capsules often appeared in the magazine’s departments, such as
“Circumspice,” “News & Views from the Field of Sport,” or “Campus Fields and
Courts.” After the multi-sport category, the number of pages devoted to any one
subject drops sharply. Rounding out the top-ten subjects, with between two and
five percent of pages, are figure skating, lacrosse, tennis, archery, outdoor recreation (noncompetitive activities such as camping, hiking, fishing, canoeing, and
camp counseling), winter sports (alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing,
bobsledding, and skijoring), basketball, and aquatics.34 Figure skating and tennis
articles often profiled international competitions and star athletes, whereas coverage of less glamorous sports, such as basketball, focused on rules and strategies.
This is certainly not a comprehensive list of Sportswoman topics, although it
does indicate the range of what the editors believed to be the interests of its readers and the relative emphases each received. Most of the subjects in the top ten
were individual sports: the only team sports included were field hockey, lacrosse,
and basketball. Extending the list beyond the top ten further elucidates the version
of women’s sports purveyed by the Sportswoman. Each of the following subjects
made up one to two percent of the content over the twelve years of publication:
golf, fencing, equestrian (including foxhunts and polo), sailing/yachting, squash
racquets, Olympics, dance, book reviews, fashion and beauty, Athletic Conference
of American College Women (ACACW), track and field, and dogs (including dog
sledding and dog shows). Golf was popular with the American public and the
Sportswoman avidly followed the careers of well-known women golfers, sometimes
tapping them to write for the magazine.
Even though technically not the “subject” of an article, it should be noted
that approximately 8.3% percent of the content in the Sportswoman contained
references to the English or Great Britain teams. From the perspective that field
Considering The Sportswoman 117
Table 1 Percentage of Content in The Sportswoman
Devoted to a Particular Subject
Rank
Subject
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Field Hockey
Multi-Sport
Figure Skating
Lacrosse
Archery
Tennis
Outdoor Recreation
Winter Sports
Basketball
Aquatics
Golf
Fencing
Equestrian
Sailing/Yachting
Squash Racquets
Olympics
Dance
Books/Reviews
Fashion and Beauty
ACACW
Track and Field
Dogs/Dog Sledding
Tourism
The Sportswoman
Aviation
Facilities
Physical Education
Play Days
Badminton
Health and Exercise
Percentage
of Pages
27.06
14.53
5.08
4.24
3.68
3.24
2.99
2.08
2.04
2.00
1.98
1.83
1.73
1.69
1.67
1.58
1.32
1.29
1.19
1.14
1.08
1.02
0.87
0.83
0.64
0.58
0.55
0.54
0.54
0.52
Note. ACACW, Athletic Conference of American College Women.
hockey was critical to this magazine and was imported from England, this level of
representation may seem reasonable. The case of lacrosse is similar. Yet the references went beyond simply noting the origins of the games. The superior athletic
performance of the English was frequently discussed, as was their robust health
and exemplary sportsmanship.
118 Couturier
Article Types
An analysis of the type codes in the Sportswoman reveals that the editors were
true to their original mission of “. . . linking together the interests of all players
and keeping them in touch with each other’s achievements.”35 Nearly 54% of the
pages of the Sportswoman were devoted to reporting information about women
athletes, women’s sports, and women’s sport organizations. Articles recounted
itineraries of tours, gave results of matches, and described various sports programs
around the country and internationally. Occasionally, articles were reprinted from
newspapers, but most were written by the editorial staff or submitted by interested
individuals. Many articles were written by women physical educators or students
in the Women’s Athletic Association (WAA). These articles tended to describe the
WAA or physical education program at a particular institution. Many sport governing bodies, such as the USFHA, U.S. Women’s Lacrosse Association (USWLA),
U.S. Figure Skating Association (USFSA), ACACW, Amateur Fencer’s League
of America, National Rifle Association, National Squash Racquets Association,
and United States Lawn Tennis Association, to name a few, contributed articles
describing their association’s activities and competitive events.
Given the backgrounds of the editorial staff, it is not surprising that the next
most popular type of article was instructional. Approximately 16.5% of the magazine’s content was devoted to articles designed to teach coaches and players how
to improve at particular sports. Sometimes the articles were quite technical, such
as the series of articles entitled “Hockey Stroke Analysis.” In the second article of
this series, which was about the push, the author describes the technique in detail
accompanied by three photos in various phases of the stroke.36 Other instructional
articles focused on positional play or game tactics. For example, in “Basketball
Hints: Signals and Tactics,” the author describes strategies for the jump ball. Like
many instructional articles, this one included a diagram as a visual aid.37
Sometimes an article introduced an unfamiliar sport to the readers, presumably
so they could implement it in their programs. In these cases, the rules of the game
were provided and were often accompanied by photographs of technique, game
play, or diagrams of positioning. The introduction of lacrosse is a good example of
this type of article. In the winter of 1925, lacrosse was promoted as a good game
for girls (not as rough as people assumed) and all the rules were delineated for
the reader along with explanations.38 In a nine-page issue, this article takes up a
full four pages. The Sportswoman comes back to lacrosse in the winter of 1926,
breaking up the rules over three articles, again with notes and explanations.39
Other examples abound: “Water Polo for Women,” “Field Ball,” “Technique for
Speedball,” and “RE: Badminton” are just a few titles of articles that describe rules
and fundamentals for the uninitiated.40 With such a large proportion of the content
devoted to instruction, the editors must have presumed that a good segment of their
audience was made up of women physical educators like themselves. Thus, the
Sportswoman was a vehicle for sharing professional ideas.
Another common type of article was promotional, which covered approximately 9.5% of the magazine. These articles let readers know of upcoming tournaments, international tours, and other important events in the world of women’s
sports. Opinion pieces filled approximately six percent of the Sportswoman pages
and frequently appeared in the form of an opening editorial. A good example is
Considering The Sportswoman 119
Ruth Rickaby Darmstadt arguing that there is nothing wrong with women playing
sports and that they would not lose their femininity because of it.41 Opinion-based
articles were also found amid articles on other content within an issue. For example,
in “Girls’ Basketball: Work or Play?,” Ethel Bowers argues against such abuses of
competitive athletics as cutting teams, compelling athletes to travel too much, and
putting male coaches in charge of female athletes. Another example can be found
in “Ethel McGary, in Favor of Competitive Sports If Wisely Supervised.” McGary,
a member of two Olympic swimming teams, argues that because competition is part
of sport, leaders should work to improve the conditions under which it is conducted
rather than eliminate it.42 The issue of appropriate competition was one of the more
frequent topics addressed by opinion pieces.
Profiles played an important role in the Sportswoman’s coverage. Nearly 2.7%
of the content celebrated the accomplishments of prominent women connected
to sport, including athletes such as Sonja Henie (skating), Glenna Collett (golf),
Helen Wills (tennis), and Ruth Nichols (aviation).43 The Sportswoman also made
an effort to profile notable women leaders in physical education. These included
Constance Applebee, Amy Homans (founder of the Boston Normal School of
Gymnastics [BNSG]), Blanche Trilling (BNSG alumna, key leader of ACACW
and WDNAAF), Ethel Perrin (BNSG alumna, American Child Health Association),
and Harriet Ballantine (director of physical education at Vassar).44 There were, of
course, other types of material in the Sportswoman, such as humor, poetry, and
event calendars, but none exceeded two percent in total material.
Level of Competition
Just over 50% of the magazine’s content was associated with a specific level of
competition. As the Sportswoman depended on schools, colleges, and clubs for
its readership, it dutifully covered sports in all those venues. Articles about club
programs, which included material from different sport organizations with club
teams, comprised 13.9% of content in the Sportswoman. Many times, these articles
were organization reports that provided detailed match results. The USFHA and
other organizations used the Sportswoman to publish meeting minutes, election
results for officers, and any other information that might be of interest to association members. In fact, the USFHA was a Sportswoman department, as were other
sport organizations during certain years.
A good example of an association report that focuses on club play can be found
in November 1930.45 The report from the USFHA fills four pages and includes
information about selection committees, newly elected officers, club activities, and
game schedules and results. The associations within USFHA that submitted reports
included Boston, Wetomachek (mid-west), Philadelphia, St. Louis, Fairchester,
and New York. Each of these associations had multiple club teams under them.
In this case, an action photo from a game accompanied the report. While other
sport organizations used the Sportswoman in similar ways, the USFHA was the
most consistent in publishing its material. The percentage of pages devoted to the
USFHA (10.5%) far exceeded the space given to any other organization. The next
closest were the ACACW (3.1%) and USFSA (2.9%).
The amount of coverage accorded to college athletics was equivalent to that of
clubs, at 13.7%. Material concerning college sports programs took several forms.
120 Couturier
Nearly every issue had some department (titles varied over the years) that covered
college programs. Much of this material was submitted by the colleges themselves
through an instructor or student associated with the WAA. This department material was almost always in the form of capsules, so that under “College Section,”
for example, several different colleges may be represented along with various
sports.46 Sometimes a sports program at a particular institution was profiled in the
form of an article, as noted earlier. At other times, the article was about a college
activity, such as May Day celebrations, and not necessarily a competitive sport.47
The Sportswoman’s coverage of sports at the schoolgirl level resembled college coverage in content and style, but filled only 4.5% of Sportswoman pages.
Schoolgirl sports received only sporadic attention. Submissions were more likely
to be from private schools than public schools. Most schoolgirl coverage occurred
in departments (“Junior Section,” “School Notes,” etc.) using capsules or brief
profiles from different programs. Evidently deferring to the presumed youth of
readers who cared about school sports, the magazine attempted to entertain them
with puzzles, cartoons, or funny poems.48
Perhaps of most interest is the amount of coverage given to elite athletics,
defined in this article as national- or international-level competition. Elite athletics
were not specifically listed as the target audience for the Sportswoman, although one
element of sport association play is generally the development of a national team.
Articles concerning elite-level play filled approximately 20% of the Sportswoman.
Many of these types of articles have already been mentioned, such as national
touring teams in field hockey, lacrosse, and squash as well as national tennis, golf,
and skating stars. The Olympic Games also received prominent coverage, as did
the European championships in fencing, the U.S. championships in archery, and
the national horse show.49
A great deal of elite athletic coverage occurred in a department that was variously titled “Circumspice,” “News & Views from the Field of Sport,” and “Sports
Eye View.”50 As a department, “Circumspice” was a roundup of national and
international sporting news about women. The reader learned of records being
set, winning streaks kept alive, and the recent exploits of such athletes as Gertrude
Ederle, Jo Carstairs, Amelia Earhart, and Helen Wills. Another important aspect of
elite-level coverage was the reporting about the International Federation of Women’s
Hockey Associations (IFWHA). A true federation, the IFWHA was made up of
field hockey associations from several different countries. The organization hosted
meetings, conferences, and tournaments with multiple nations competing, and it
consistently received positive coverage in the Sportswoman.51
Discussion
In thinking about the article subjects, article types, and levels of competition in the
Sportswoman, it is useful to consider Jennifer Hargreaves’s analytical perspective
of adjustment and accommodation in women’s sport. In her analysis of the influences of Victorian culture on the development of women’s sport, she postulates
that “changes in women’s sport were not abrupt or dramatic but rather a process
of adjustment and accommodation, new forms of activity being formulated concomitantly with established conservative attitudes.”52 As women advanced into
Considering The Sportswoman 121
new athletic arenas, they could temper the anxiety created by their participation by
ensuring that the existing social order was not obviously disturbed. In other words,
women in sport compensated or accommodated for their unconventional behavior
as athletes by maintaining conventional female attributes such as femininity and
propriety. As an artifact of women’s sporting experience, the Sportswoman provides
clear evidence for women “extend[ing] physical horizons” and accommodating for
that transgression by reinforcing femininity and modesty.53
Extending the Boundaries
The very existence of the Sportswoman symbolized women’s new confidence and
ability to move into formerly male terrain. The magazine was founded by many of
the same women who organized the USFHA and later the USWLA. Their foray
into publishing was an entrepreneurial act that was most likely rooted in their successes as professional women in physical education and the USFHA. Field hockey
was singularly important in the story of the Sportswoman. As a socially acceptable
team sport played primarily by women, it allowed women a space in which to
create their own national and international sporting organizations and to conduct
their own tournaments and national team selections. As one of the few competitive
outlets in team sports for upper- and middle-class women, the USFHA legitimized
women as athletes and organizers of competitive sport. The Sportswoman was the
promotional vehicle for this sport, and in issue after issue, it offered its readers the
thrill of high-level play across the United States and the world.
While the typical Sportswoman reader tried to find her place in sport, an
exceptional few were becoming celebrities through their athletic exploits. Athletes such as Gertrude Ederle, Glenna Collett, Sonja Henie, and Helen Wills were
objects of press coverage and national fascination, providing tremendous visibility
for women’s sport. In the Sportswoman, women’s athletic accomplishments were
lauded and many celebrity athletes were profiled in its pages. Some actually wrote
for the magazine. In a period when Americans became engrossed in the “cult of
personality,” the high profile of women athletes was a confirmation of changing
gender relations.54
Celebrity athletes competed at the highest levels and the amount of elite-level
competition present in the Sportswoman is yet another indication of how the magazine pushed boundaries. Since the Sportswoman seemed to support the movement
to limit competition and avoid the abuses of men’s athletics through its coverage of
play days and the ACACW, it would follow that the magazine would give little or
no prominence to women’s athletic competition at the highest levels. Yet elite-level
sport fills more pages than college, school, or club activities. National and international competition is celebrated and was an important aspect of the Sportswoman.
Tournaments and tours were widely promoted. Itineraries, rosters, and scores were
regularly published. This type of coverage reflects a seriousness about women’s
sport that was unsettling for those who believed competition was inappropriate for
women. Some of those individuals were women physical educators who believed
schoolgirls and college women should limit their competitive sport experience to
the occasional play day or field day.
Even the types of articles in the Sportswoman represented a challenge to male
hegemony. Although the intent of instructional articles may have been professional
122 Couturier
development for other women physical educators, they also served to empower
readers with the knowledge necessary to improve their own skills and tactics.
Step-by-step photos on techniques, diagrams that served as “chalk talks,” and
comprehensive explanations of strategies left no doubt that the Sportswoman was
a tool that could raise the level of play for athletes and programs.
Finally, the visual representation of women athletes in the Sportswoman also
contributed to pushing back boundaries. Many of the photos used in the magazine
were shot during game play and while players were in uniform. While there are
some head shots and posed photos, the dominance of action shots conveyed women’s
athleticism. The women appear fast, strong, and focused. Through its representation of women athletes (profiles, photos, and participants), empowerment of its
readers with its instructional articles, and support of sporting organizations and
elite-level play, the Sportswoman extended the boundaries of acceptable women’s
sport. These challenges to male dominance were offset by reinforced femininity
in other aspects of the magazine.
Reinforcing Femininity and Social Order
A review of the article subjects in the Sportswoman reveals a collection of sports
that were considered most socially acceptable for women at the time: field hockey,
lacrosse, outdoor recreation, and many individual sports like tennis, skating,
archery, golf, and fencing. Joan Hult has noted that for women athletes in general,
individual sports were considered more appropriate for women than team sports.55
These sports preclude physical contact between players by having athletes compete
one at a time (as in figure skating) or by separating in playing space (such as a
tennis net). Individual sports did not invoke fears of “masculinizing” women the
way team sports did.
As noted earlier, the only team sports in the top-ten subjects were field hockey,
lacrosse, and basketball. In her study of sport in girls’ schools in Victorian England,
Kathleen McCrone points out that “the introduction of new sports, like hockey,
netball and lacrosse, that did not carry the stigma of overt masculinity, helped . . .
as long as they took place under conditions that minimized threats to femininity.”56
Thus, since they were never associated with men’s games, field hockey and lacrosse
were considered proper for women. Basketball was more questionable because it
was played by men, but as Steveda Chepko noted, it had been “domesticated” for
women’s play by using modified rules.57
The sports in the Sportswoman were further differentiated from men’s by the
competitors’ apparel, which maintained feminine characteristics and ensured propriety.58 For example, all field hockey and lacrosse photos in the magazine show the
players in tunics and blouses (see Figure 1). In other sports, such as figure skating,
the costumes were always distinctly feminine and much of a competitor’s success
was based on aesthetics and gracefulness. Most of the sports in the top ten in the
Sportswoman, such as archery, golf, and tennis, fit traditional feminine ideals in
that they required skillfulness, not sheer physical power, and could be played in
properly feminine attire. There are many photographs in the Sportswoman in which
women archers are shown competing in fashionable dresses. In golf, most women
competitors wore skirts or risked public disdain. Herb Graffis (1925), who wrote
on golf for the Sportswoman, commented that “the female form divine is rarely so
Considering The Sportswoman 123
Figure 1 — Action photo of an acceptable, and English, sport for women. Published in
The Sportswoman, 12 no. 3 (November 1935): 6.
moulded that it can be jelled in a pair of knickers without clashing with nature’s
other handiwork as groomed by the golf architect and greenkeeper.”59
There was a strong gender–class interaction for most of the sports represented
in the Sportswoman, with most being associated with the more affluent classes.
Field hockey and lacrosse were played primarily in schools, clubs, and colleges
and were commonly associated with the middle and upper classes. Many Sportswoman articles reported the performance of American touring teams in these sports,
and, when sent by the USWLA and the USFHA, the teams were typically away
for as long as a month or two. Those who were selected needed to have both the
time and the financial means to be away for an extended period. Tennis, golf, and
124 Couturier
other sports in the Sportswoman (e.g., equestrian events, fencing, sailing, squash)
developed as leisure activities for the upper classes.60 The sports played by upperand middle-class women often separated them from other women by their strict
amateur code as well as their cost, special equipment and clothing, and facilities.61
Few working-class women could afford to belong to a private athletic, country,
or yacht club. Nor could they forgo any potential remuneration in order to retain
their amateur status.
This gender–class interaction in sport was further reinforced by the amount
of coverage given to English sportswomen. According to Roberta Park, the British
and Americans shared the same middle-class gender ideals, which were reinforced
by the types of sports men and women played. The English sport system was the
model to emulate because it was associated with the gentility, feminine ideals,
and true amateur values, which in reality could be practiced only by the affluent.62
The Sportswoman believed in this vision of sport for women and reinforced it by
covering English sportswomen in its pages.
When the Sportswoman covered any team from the British Isles, it did so in
glowing terms. The events and contests of the tour were previewed and the rosters were published with short resumes and photos. The touring team members
often offered tips about positional play or strategy.63 In the games themselves, the
Americans were generally beaten soundly. It was not unusual to read a critique of
the American’s field hockey play such as this one from Anne Townsend in 1925:
At the moment, we are a little too intent upon our “form” and not intent enough
upon making goals. It is a perfectly natural phase and one which we must pass
through if we are to acquire the skill and technique that makes hockey a joy
to watch and to play. And we must acquire it if we are ever to reach the high
standard that Britain has set for us. . . .”64
When the Sportswoman advocated that women continue to play sports as
adults, Englishwomen were again the reference point, as can be seen in this quote
from the “Editorial” in the April 1, 1925, edition of the magazine:
Seeing the Englishwomen play, having played with them, and having been
entirely outplayed by them, that is by a team of women who were for the most
part were older, and more experienced, and who therefore had more endurance,
more skill and because of years of brain work that lay back their game, could
easily outwit their opponent every time, was the best practical lesson of what
it means to a woman’s physical and mental development to continue to play
active team games after college and school days.65
Perhaps comparisons with the English were unavoidable. After all, Constance
Applebee was English, and a key figure in the development of field hockey in the
United States, as well as a founder of the Sportswoman. In addition, “with relatively
few exceptions, the predominant sports in America at the end of the nineteenth
century had crossed the Atlantic with British immigrants and visitors.”66 In the
case of women’s sports, English physical educators could be found teaching and
coaching in many eastern prep schools.67 In both field hockey and lacrosse, English
coaches were invited by the USFHA and the USWLA to spend entire seasons in
the United States to teach and coach these games. In addition, Applebee always
included top English players and coaches as staff at her renowned field hockey
Considering The Sportswoman 125
camp, which was advertised every year in the Sportswoman. It is not surprising
that the first international field hockey and lacrosse matches played by American
women were against the English, and that was also the case in squash racquets.
This middle-class gender ideology did not include representations of workingclass or minority women. In fact, working-class and minority women were virtually
absent from the pages of the Sportswoman. There were few, if any, articles or photos
on industrial sports or recreational leagues. No coverage was given to historically
black colleges that African American women attended. It is also worth noting that
only one photograph in the Sportswoman could be found that featured a minority
woman. The photo accompanies an article on volleyball in China and it shows a
young Chinese woman who was attending Wellesley College.68
Any casual mention of working-class women’s sport was as a point of reference
for what respectable women should avoid and this included the use of male coaches,
who were frequently found in recreational and industrial sports. The sports that
working-class and minority women were likely to have access to, such as basketball,
bowling, or track and field, received only limited coverage in the Sportswoman.
When these sports did appear in the magazine, it was typically in association with
college programs or the Olympics and not recreational and industrial sport venues
or historically black colleges.
These sports were “tainted with male values and practices” and as such were
contrary to the image of the sportswoman as a lady.69 This was especially true for
track and field, which was the sport that caused women physical educators to form
the WDNAAF to fight the AAU’s entrance into women’s athletics and the Olympics.70 The association of working-class women’s sports with masculinity made
them suspect in the eyes of women physical educators, and therefore the lack of
coverage by the Sportswoman is not surprising. However, this systemic omission
served to reinforce the white privilege of the readers as well as the authors and editors of the magazine. The lack of minority women as subjects or contributors to the
Sportswoman made “whiteness appear normal, natural, and unremarkable.”71 The
publication of socially appropriate sporting activities and apparel, associations with
upper-class leisure activities and English amateur values, and exclusion of “other”
women (whose femininity was questionable) allowed Sportswoman readers and
contributors to reaffirm their own womanhood and to accommodate the patriarchal
social order as they encroached on the male territory of sport.
Conclusion
The Sportswoman was one of the first magazines devoted to athletics for women,
and in that sense it was groundbreaking. It was a unique publication made possible by the expansion of athletic opportunities for women, a growing adulation of
sport within American culture, and a climate that tolerated (at least temporarily)
women’s new political, social, and sexual freedoms.72 The Sportswoman promoted
women’s progress through its coverage of athletic accomplishment and its support
of the amateur model of elite-level competition for women. This support starkly
contrasted with the position of most women physical educators, whose views were
also prominently featured in the magazine. It was not unusual to see articles promoting the national field hockey team tour to a foreign country in the same issue
in which a director of physical education would write on the virtues of play days.
The broader social debate over how much competition was appropriate for women
126 Couturier
is quite evident in the pages of the Sportswoman, with even their own subscribers
(players in competitive club system and the women in physical education) standing
on different sides of the issue. Even as the Sportswoman promoted the advancement of women athletes, it also accommodated the conventional social order by
fortifying femininity and propriety.
While the Sportswoman may have reflected some progressive ideas with regard
to gender, the magazine maintained strict class distinctions, and frankly, omitted
any discussion or representation of race. The Sportswoman was published for, by,
and about white middle- and upper-class sportswomen. Like most magazines of
the period, it “render[ed] minorities, the working-class, and social upheaval as
invisible as possible.”73 In this sense, the Sportswoman missed an opportunity to
unify women of different backgrounds around participation in sport and thus did
not achieve its vision of being a magazine “devoted to all forms of sports in which
women take part.”74 It did, however, remain true to its mission to inform those
interested in “school, club, and association activities.”75
Even though the Sportswoman never had a large readership, it was influential
in an important segment of society, that of education. Furthermore, the magazine’s
subject matter was the woman athlete, an interloper in the world of predominantly
male sport, who represented the struggle over gender relations in this period. Cahn
summarizes the significance of the woman athlete in this period well: “poised on
the edge between the appealing and threatening aspects of the modern woman’s
relationship to men, female athletes captivated an intrigued but ambivalent American public struggling to make sense out of contemporary gender arrangements.”76
The Sportswoman was essentially an interpreter in this struggle, helping its readers
negotiate the right way to play, to trumpet women’s progress, and to cope with
tensions over changing gender roles through the milieu of sport.77
Noted sports historian Roberta Park has said, “we have begun to understand
that sports are cultural artifacts, and as such are very likely to reflect the dominant
social structures and salient values of the societies in which they exist.”78 The
Sportswoman, as a historical representative of women’s sport, is significant for
what it reveals about gender, class, and American culture. The magazine’s content
clearly reinforced gender and class expectations, but it simultaneously subverted
conventional notions of women’s place in society. In addition, it is certainly a
valuable resource for the study of women’s sport history. As an artifact of the
period, it provides important source material and the content of the magazine can
be further examined through text analysis. Despite its shortcomings, the Sportswoman was a remarkable publication for its time. Several decades would pass
before anything like it was published again. Indeed, it would take a second wave
of feminism (1960s–1970s) to nurture support for a new women’s sport magazine,
entitled womenSports.79
Acknowledgments
I wish to express my gratitude for the access and assistance granted to me at the Springfield College and Bryn Mawr Archives. I began my search for the Sportswoman with the
AAHPERD Collection and the Springfield College Collection at the Springfield College
Archives. Other volumes were later located at the Neilson Library at Smith College and
the Clapp Library at Wellesley College. Additional material regarding Constance Applebee
and the business aspects of the Sportswoman were found in the Constance Applebee Collection at Bryn Mawr.
Considering The Sportswoman 127
Notes
1.
Editorials, The Sportswoman 1, no. 1 (September 1, 1924): 1.
2. See Susan Bandy, “Shared Femininities and Shared Feminisms: Women’s Sporting Magazines
of the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries,” in International Perspectives on Sporting Women in
Past and Present: A Festschrift for Gertrud Pfister, in eds. Annette Hofmann, Else Trangbaek, &
Gertrude Pfister (Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen, 2005), 83–109; David Welky, Everything Was Better in America: Print Culture in the Great Depression (Urbana, IL: University of
Illinois Press, 2008); and Jennifer Scanlon, Inarticulate Longings: The Ladies’ Home journal,
Gender, and the Promises of Consumer Culture (New York: Routledge, 1995).
3.
Editorials, The Sportswoman 1, no. 1 (September 1, 1924): 1.
4. Stephanie Twin, Out of the Bleachers: Writings on Women and Sport (Old Westbury, NY:
The Feminist Press, 1979), xxvii.
5. David E. Kyvig, Daily life in the United States, 1920-1940: How Americans Lived Through
the “Roaring Twenties” and the Great Depression (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2002), 104–105.
6. Lynn Dumenil, Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920’s (New York:
Hill and Wang, 1995), 77.
7. Guy Lewis, “Sport, Youth Culture and Conventionality, 1920–1970,” Journal of Sport History 4 (1977): 129–150.
8. Mark Dyreson, “Icons of Liberty or Objects of Desire? American Images of Women Athletes
in the 1920s and 1930s,” in Proceedings of the North American Society for Sport History (Athens,
GA: North American Society for Sport History, 2000), 59.
9. See Angela J. Latham, Posing a Threat: Flappers, Chorus Girls and Other Brazen Performers of the American 1920s (Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 2000); Nathan Miller, New
World Coming: The 1920s and the Making of Modern America (Cambridge, MA: De Capo Press,
2003); Michael E. Parrish, Anxious Decades: America in Prosperity and Depression, 1920–1941
(New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1992); and Joshua Zeitz, Flapper: A Madcap Story of
Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern. (New York: Crown Publishers,
2006).
10. Dave Kaszuba, “Bringing Women into the Sports Pages: Margaret Goss and the 1920s,”
American Journalism 23 no. 2 (2006): 25.
11. Susan K. Cahn, Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth Century Women’s
Sport (New York: The Free Press, 1994), 51.
12. Welky, Everything Was Better, 47.
13. Cahn, Coming on Strong, 51.
14. See Roberta Park, “Searching for a Middle Ground: Women and Professional Physical
Education in the United States 1885–1930,” in eds. A. Hofmann, E. Trangbaek & G. Pfister,
International Perspectives on Sporting Women in Past and Present: A Festschrift for Gertrud
Pfister (Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen, 2005), 127–145. The survey data can be found
in Ellen Gerber, “The Controlled Development of Collegiate Sport for Women, 1923–1936,”
Journal of Sport History 2 no. 1 (1975): 3.
15. See Janice Beran, “Playing to the Right Drummer: Girls’ Basketball in Iowa, 1893–1927,”
Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, Centennial Issue (1985): 78–85; Pamela Grundy,
Learning to Win: Sports, Education, and Social Change in Twentieth-Century North Carolina
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2001); Pamela Grundy, “From Amazons to Glamazons:
The Rise and Fall of North Carolina Women’s Basketball, 1920–1960,” Journal of American
History 87 no. 1 (2000): 112–146; see also Joan S. Hult and Marianna Trekell eds., A Century of
Women’s Basketball: From Frailty to Final Four (Reston, VA: AAHPERD, 1991).
16. Gerald R. Gems, “Working Class Women and Sport: An Untold Story,” Women in Sport and
Physical Activity Journal 2 no. 1 (1993): 23.
128 Couturier
17. See Cahn, Coming on Strong, 36–39 and Rita Liberti, “We Were Ladies, We Just Played
Basketball Like Boys”: African American Womanhood and Competitive Basketball at Bennett
College, 1928–1942,” Journal of Sport History 26 (1999): 567–584; and also Patrick B. Miller,
“To “Bring the Race Along Rapidly”: Sport, Student Culture and Educational Mission at Historically Black Colleges during the Interwar Years,” History of Education Quarterly 35 no. 2 (1995),
111–133.
18. Steven A. Reiss, “Sport and the Redefinition of American Middle-Class Masculinity in
Victorian America,” in ed. S. W. Pope, The New American Sport History: Recent Approaches
and Perspectives (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1997), 173–197.
19. See Park, “Searching for a Middle Ground,” 127–145 and Jennifer Hargreaves, Sporting
Females: Critical Issues in the History and Sociology of Women’s Sports (London: Routledge,
1994).
20. Gerber, “Controlled Development of Collegiate,” 6.
21. See Joan S. Hult, “The Governance of Athletics for Girls and Women: Leadership by Women
Physical Educators, 1899–1949,” Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, Centennial Issue
(1985): 64–77 and Park, “Searching for a Middle Ground,” 127–145.
22. Gerber, “Controlled Development of Collegiate,” 10–11.
23. See Park, “Searching for a Middle Ground,” 127–145; Karen V. Epstein, (1992). Sameness
or difference? Class, Gender, Sport, the WDNAAF and the NCAA/NAAF. International Journal
of Sport History 9 no. 2 (1992), 280–287 and Nancy Theriot, Towards a New Sporting Ideal: The
Women’s Division of the National Amateur Athletic Federation. Frontiers; A Journal of Women’s
Studies 3 no. 1 (1978): 1–7.
24. Florence A. Summers, “The Right Kind of Athletics for Girls,” The American Physical
Education Review 21 (May 1916): 369.
25. Lynn Couturier, “Play With Us, Not Against Us: The Debate About Play Days in the Regulation of Women’s Sport,” The International Journal of the History of Sport 25 no. 4 (2008):
421–442.
26. From the Sidelines, The Sportswoman 2 no. 17 (May 1, 1926): 4. The Hockey Field, later
the Hockey Field and Lacrosse, covered club hockey in England, Scotland, and Ireland. There are
certain similarities between the magazines but the club system was well established and much
more extensive in England than here. The Hockey Field carried some instructional articles and
reports of association news, but most of its content consisted of box scores of games and calendars
of upcoming matches. Some of the major advertisers in the Hockey Field can be found in the
Sportswoman, including Slazengers, A. G. Spalding & Bros., Stokes & Co., and Thos. Plant &
Co.
27. Constance M. K. Applebee Collection (Box 3: History of the USFHA, handwritten minutes
from January 21, 1922 meeting at the YWCA in Philadelphia), Bryn Mawr Archives.
28. Helen D. Krumbhaar, “The United States Field Hockey Association,” The Sportswoman 1
no. 1 (September 1, 1924): 8.
29. Subscription ad, The Sportswoman 1 no. 1 (September 1, 1924): back cover.
30. David Reed, The Popular Magazine in Britain and the United States 1880–1960 (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1997), 152.
31. Editorials, The Sportswoman 1 no. 1 (September 1, 1924): 1.
32. Reed, Popular Magazine, 12.
33. Subject codes were determined by the major topic of the article. Most typically, this was a
particular sport, though sometimes it was an organization or person. In some cases, the topic was
broader, such as appropriateness of competition. Type codes related to the nature of the article,
Considering The Sportswoman 129
such as informational (a report on a subject), instructional (how to get better), or promotional
(advocated or promoted the value of the activity). Less frequently, type codes such as opinion or
humor were applied. The intent of the coding was to assist the author in identifying trends and
patterns embedded in many pages of material, not to create a detailed index of the magazine. As
such, it is quite possible that other researchers might choose different ways of coding or analyzing
the same information. There are likely multiple methods for examining this content, based on the
researcher’s interests.
34. Skijoring is an activity where skiers are pulled across snowy fields or frozen lakes while
holding the reins of a horse.
35. Editorials, The Sportswoman 1 no. 1 (September 1, 1924): 1.
36. Rosabelle Sinclair, “Hockey Stroke Analysis,” The Sportswoman 1 no. 1 (September 1, 1924):
5; The Sportswoman 1 no. 2 (September 15, 1924): 4; and The Sportswoman 1 no. 3 (September
1, 1924): 5.
37. “Basketball Hints: Signals and Tactics,” The Sportswoman 4 no. 6 (February 1928): 140–141.
38. Rosabelle Sinclair, “Women’s Lacrosse Rules,” The Sportswoman 1 no. 9 (January 1, 1925);
5–8.
39. Rosabelle Sinclair, “Women’s Lacrosse Rules,” The Sportswoman 2 no. 11 (February 1,
1926): 14 –15; The Sportswoman 2 no. 12 (February 15, 1926): 14 –15; and The Sportswoman 2
no. 13 (March 1, 1926): 14 –15.
40. “Water Polo for Women,” The Sportswoman 3 no. 6 (February 1927): 23–24; Mildred S.
Bruckheimer, “Technique for Speedball,” The Sportswoman 5 no. 9 (May 1929): 10–11; Rebecca
Barnes Browning, “Field Ball,” The Sportswoman 6 no. 4 (December 1929): 14 –15; Virginia
Strother, “RE: Badminton,” The Sportswoman 11 no. 5 (January 1935): 15–17.
41. Ruth Rickaby Darmstadt, “The Sportswoman’s Guild,” The Sportswoman 7 no. 3 (November
1930): 6.
42. Ethel Bowers, “Girls’ Basketball: Work or Play?” The Sportswoman 7 no. 5 (January 1931):
15–16 and Ethel McGary, “Ethel McGary Favors Competitive Sports If Wisely Supervised” The
Sportswoman 8 no. 3 (November 1931): 11–12.
43. Ruth Rickaby Darmstadt, “Queen of Figure Skaters,” The Sportswoman 6 no. 6 (February
1930): 7–8; Ruth Rickaby Darmstadt, “Glenna Collett Wins National Golf Title for 5th Time,”
The Sportswoman 7 no. 3 (November 1930): 13&29; Helen Hulett Searl, “Reel Tennis,” The
Sportswoman 2 no. 21 (September 1926): 6–7& 32 and Josephine Renshaw, “Ruth Nichols,” The
Sportswoman 7 no. 8 (April 1931): 7–8.
44. “From Dawn to Dusk,” The Sportswoman 7 no. 3 (November 1930): 12&28; Fanny Garrison, “Amy Morris Homans: An Appreciation,” The Sportswoman 5 no. 6 (February 1929): 7–8;
“Blanche Mathilda Trilling: A Great Leader,” The Sportswoman 5 no. 9 (May 1929): 7; Majorie
Bouve, “Ethel Perrin: Humanist,” The Sportswoman 7 no. 7 (March 1931): 7–8; and “Harriet
Isabel Ballantine: Pioneer Veteran,” The Sportswoman 5 no. 8 (April 1929): 7–8.
45. USFHA, The Sportswoman 7 no. 3 (November 1930): 21–24.
46. A typical example is College Section, The Sportswoman 4 no. 9 (May 1927): 232–233 or
College Section, The Sportswoman 5 no. 1 (September 1928): 26–27.
47. For examples of sports programs at particular institutions, see Margeret Wemple, “Crew at
Smith College,” The Sportswoman 8 no. 7 (March 1932): 23 and Rosalind Cassidy, “An activity
Program for College Women in 1930,” The Sportswoman 6 no. 9 (May 1930): 5–8 & 28. May
Day celebrations were popular at women’s colleges and were sometimes reported in the Sportswoman. See Margeret Ballou Hitchcock, “A College May Day,” The Sportswoman 3 no. 8 (April
1927): 10–12.
130 Couturier
48. As examples, see Junior Section, The Sportswoman 6 no. 4 (December 1929): 26–27; School
Notes, The Sportswoman 7 no. 10 (June 1931): 25-28 and Old King Cole, The Sportswoman 4
no. 7 (March 1928): 183.
49. “An Interview with the Champion Fencer of Europe,” The Sportswoman 7 no. 8 (April 1931):
10; “The Record Breaking Archery Tournament,” The Sportswoman 8 no. 2 (October 1931): 12–13
and “Hoofprints at the National,” The Sportswoman 12 no. 3 (November 1935): 10–11.
50. A classic example of “Circumspice,” edited by Ruth D. Rickaby, is found in The Sportswoman 4 no.3 (November 1927): 69–70.
51. “The International Federation of Women’s Hockey Associations,” The Sportswoman 4 no. 4
(December 1927): 83–84; Anne B. Townsend, “International Federation Convenes,” The Sportswoman 11 no. 3 (November 1934): 10 and Gertrude Hooper, “A Message to All Hockey Players
in America,” The Sportswoman 12 no. 2 (October 1935): 15&26.
52. Jennifer Hargreaves, “The Victorian Cult of the Family and the Early Years of Female
Sport,” in eds. Sheila Scraton & Anne Flintoff, Gender and Sport: A Reader (London:
Routledge, 2002), 59.
53. Ibid.
54. Miller, New World Coming, 329.
55. Hult, “Governance of Athletics,” 73.
56. Kathleen E. McCrone, “Play up! Play up! And Play the Game! Sport at the Late Victorian
Girls’ Public Schools,” in eds. J. A. Mangan & Roberta. J. Park, Fair Sex to Feminism: Sport
and the Socialization of women in the Industrial and Post-Industrial Eras (London: Frank Cass,
1987), 118.
57. Steveda Chepko, “The Domestication of Basketball,” in eds. Joan. S. Hult & Marianna
Trekell, A Century of Women’s Basketball: From Frailty to Final Four (Reston, VA: AAHPERD,
1991), 109–124.
58. Nancy G. Rosoff, “A Glow of Pleasurable Excitement”: Images of the New Athletic Woman
in American Popular Culture, 1880–1920,” in ed. Linda K. Fuller, Sport, Rhetoric, and Gender:
Historical Perspectives and Media Representations (New York: Palgrave, 2006), 62.
59. Herb Graffis, “Colonel Bogey’s Lady,” The Sportswoman, 12 no. 10 (1935, June): 8.
60. Bandy, “Shared Femininities,” 100.
61. Donald J. Mrozek, Sports and American Mentality: 1880–1910. (Knoxville: Tennessee
University Press, 1983), 113.
62. Roberta J. Park, “Sport, Gender and Society in a Transatlantic Perspective,” in eds. J. A.
Mangan & Roberta J. Park, Fair Sex to Feminism: Sport and the Socialization of Women in the
Industrial and Post-Industrial Eras (London: Frank Cass, 1987), 58–93.
63. For example, see “To Our Scotch Guests” and “More Introduction to Our Scotch Guests,”
The Sportswoman 8 no. 2 (October 1931): 7–11. These articles included a welcome to the Scots
from Anne Townsend, then president of the USFHA, photo collages and profiles of the Scottish
players, and a schedule of events. In the following issue, a good deal of coverage is given to
game results, but there is also “The All-Scot Touring Team Prescribes Proper Technique,” The
Sportswoman 8 no. 3 (November 1931): 16–20. In this article, five pages are devoted to photos of
Scottish players accompanied by quotes on aspects of positional play. This is one of the longest
articles in any issue of the Sportswoman.
64. Ann Townsend, “The Fourth Annual Inter-City Tournament,” The Sportswoman, 2 no. 8
(December 15, 1925): 7.
65. Editorials, The Sportswoman, 1 no. 15 (April 1, 1925): 1.
66. Park, Sport, Gender and Society, 58.
Considering The Sportswoman 131
67. Ibid, 82.
68. Lu Hui Ching, “Volleyball in China,” The Sportswoman 12 no. 8 (April 1936): 12, 24 & 25.
69. Hult, “Governance of Athletics,” 73.
70. For more information on the WDNAAF, see Hult, “Governance of Athletics for Girls,” 66;
Gerber, “Controlled Development of Collegiate Sport,” 10–11; Theriot, “Towards a New Sporting
Ideal,” 2; and Epstein, “Sameness or Difference?” 282.
71. France Widdance Twine and Charles Gallagher, “Introduction: The future of whiteness: A
Map of the ‘Third Wave,’” Ethnic and Racial Studies 31 no. 1 (2008): 9.
72. Parrish, Anxious Decades, 159.
73. Welky, Everything Was Better, 8.
74. “Editorials,” The Sportswoman, 1.
75. “Subscription Ad,” The Sportswoman, 9.
76. Cahn, Coming on Strong, 54.
77. Welky, Everything Was Better, 115 and John Tebbel and Mary Ellen Zuckerman, The Magazine in America 1741–1990. (New York, Oxford University Press, 1991).
78. Park, Sport, Gender and Society, 70.
79. This magazine was first published in 1974 and was tightly associated with Billie Jean King
and the Women’s Sport Foundation.