Adventures in skating historiography
Header to the first issue available in ANNO (July 1, 1880). I recently discovered the Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung archive in ANNO: Historische österreichische Zeitungen und Zeitschriften at the Austrian National Library. Spanning 1880–1927 with a few gaps, it is a fantastic resource for skating history! (Provided you read German.) This newspaper was published in Vienna, home… Continue reading Mrs. Syers in the Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung
When you read old skating books (or this blog), the Field comes up a lot. This post explains what it is and why it's important for skating history. The Field's logo. Image © The British Library Board. Courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive. The Field began in 1853 as a weekly magazine in 1853 aimed… Continue reading The Field
Through June 14, you can get my book Skates Made of Bone: A History for 40% off (meaning $27 instead of the usual $45, plus shipping) by entering the code SPORTS40 on the McFarland website. This code also works for their other sports books, like Skating on Air: The Broadcast History of an Olympic Marquee… Continue reading Skates Made of Bone is on sale!
This is one of the great books of figure skating. It's in German and, as far as I know, has not been translated into English.
My book on bone skates is available for pre-order! You can get it directly from the publisher, McFarland, from Amazon, or from whatever bookstore you like best.
The cover of Skaters History. From my collection. I first met this book at the 2018 World Figure Championship when Eddie Shipstad, Jr., showed me a copy he found among his uncle Roy's things. It's a little book published by the author, Julian T. Fitzgerald, in 1916. After the competition, I came home and looked… Continue reading Skaters History on Ice and Roller Skating
The final manuscript atop the archive notes and drafts. The final manuscript of my book on bone skates is now on its way to McFarland, who will publish it. Watch for it in bookstores later this year. Now I'm ready to get going on my next big writing project, a history of figures. As part… Continue reading Writing projects
My edition of On the Outside Edge: Being Diversions in the History of Skating is now available on Amazon at such a low price ($8.31) that Amazon will lose money on each copy sold. The author, George Herbert Fowler, is quite an interesting person. He worked as a scientist at first, but later switched to… Continue reading On the Outside Edge
Readers of this blog and everybody else who's interested in skating history already know about Robert Jones's Treatise on Skating. But there's another book, a much more recent one, by a Jones. Ernest Jones is well-known in psychoanalytic circles as a disciple of Freud, and his background on psychology provides the foundation for his book,… Continue reading The other Jones
Robert Jones's A Treatise on Skating, first published in 1772, is generally considered the first book on skating. It went through several editions between 1772 and 1855, with numerous additions and changes over time. Aimed at beginners, it has two parts: a section on basic skills, including choosing and putting on skates, stroking and edges,… Continue reading The first book on skating