Travel

There is a wonderful blog called The Kitchen Sisters Present. I first became aware of it from one of their blogs on archiving the “horseback librarians,” a Depression-era New Deal project. Reminded me of one of my paternal grandmother’s sisters who used to teach music on horseback—that is to say, she would visit her students on horseback.

We are so spoiled with autos and whatnot, but our predecessors used many resources to navigate—we have in our collections a bicycle ridden by a traveling minister, and photos in the archive collections of an all-Black military group riding bicycles as one of the Army’s attempts at alternative/practical means of transportation. There is even a brief history of the Army importing camels as possible conveyances!

Columbia chainless bicycle, with tubeless tires. MHS 2002.45.01 a-d
Although it is in rough shape, Reverend Ellis's family was enamored
enough with his story to save his bike and then donate it to the historical
society. So much of our collections are snippets of history that flesh
out stories of resiliency and innovation.