Genesis of the bicycle in the United States, 1865-1893: a bibliographic tool for researchers.

Abstract

This study comprises two parts. The first part relies primarily on books for a compressed history of the bicycle in the United States between 1865 and 1893-The second part consists of an annotated bibliography of 254 articles gleaned from 27 American magazines published from 1865 to 1893. The history of the bicycle is segmented into five eras: (1) pre1865: the origins of the bicycle, (2) 1865-1871: the boneshaker or velocipede epoch, (3) 1871-1876: the development of the ordinary bicycle, (4) 1876-1887: the reign of the ordinary bicycle, and (5) 1887-1893: the demise of the ordinary bicycle and the rise of the safety bicycle. An annotated bibliography of articles relating to each era follows the history of that period. Also included are a list of magazines consulted with the number of volumes and dates covered as well as the number of citations found, a subject-year occurrence matrix, and a subject-magazine occurrence matrix.