The Prints & Photographs Division’s collections include many images that feature the humble bicycle. This familiar, ingenious transportation technology appears in pictures in multiple formats, including photographs, prints, and drawings, produced across decades.
This popular graphic art print showing the scene at the 1883 Bicycle Camp-Exhibition & Tournament in Springfield, Massachusetts gives a sense of how popular bicycles were in the late nineteenth century. The prominent style of bicycle in the image seems to be that of the penny-farthing, which features an impressively large front wheel.
Another print made from around the same period — this time a Japanese woodcut — features a bicycle in use at center, surrounded by people employing many other modes of transportation:
Using the bicycle metaphorically, this political cartoon, referencing the 1912 U.S. presidential election, features Woodrow Wilson speeding ahead toward victory on two wheels, with incumbent president William Howard Taft looking on.
The boy in this photograph is putting his artistic skills to use while preparing his bike for the “best decorated bicycle” contest at the National Rice Festival in Crowley, Louisiana:
These two bicycle-themed images can be found among Anthony Angel’s many photographs of New York City in the middle of the twentieth century:
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.69858
Bringing us closer to the present day, this photograph by Carol M. Highsmith of cyclists riding through Grand Teton National Park shows us that the popularity of the bicycle shows little sign of waning.
Learn More:
- Browse through additional bicycle-related images from the collections.
- Read additional Picture This blog posts about bicycles:
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