N O T E S A N D C U T T I N G S1 8 7 9

THE ATALANTA BICYCLING CLUB

KINGDOMS OF THE BLIND

Professor of Travel and Tourism History and Behaviour, University of Limerick

Huddersfield University (Ist Marketing Degrees); Northumbria University (1st. Tourism Degree 1985);

Open University (Popular Culture and Mass Communication);

University of Luton/Bedford, International Tourism Research Institute + Emeritus 2009

CHARLES COLLIER

PART 1: THE ATALANTA BICYCLE CLUB RECORDS 1879

• Membership (names and numbers); • Fees (receipts); • Meetings (dates, venues) • Attendance • Itineraries (roads, stops, hospitality and

entertainment (with other other clubs) • Distances and times• Bicycle ownership by type • Author’s cycling purchases (bikes, accessories)

PART II: BICYCLE PRESS BOOK

• 1879 News Cuttings from national and regional press

• Inserted programmes, ephemera… The first “how to ride a bike” book 1870s!• World six day• Accidents/Insurance

AS SOCIO-HISTORICAL DATA

• Dates: 1879 but also 1874, 1881. The UR decade of cycling• Membership and number of cycling clubs• Group participation by class, occupation• Road and travel conditions • The cycling geography of Greater London

POSSIBILITIES

• Individual and social cycling profiling, and prosoprography (when did the toffs decline as %).• Social Geography of Cycling: itineraries then and

now (Loss of habitat? Laslett’s “World we have lost!”) • Comparison with Howards “Roads Books” and

(1882-1889) and later CC Roadbooks . • Cycling Club associations and contacts of named

clubs recorded.• Cycling and the Victorian Press 1870-1919 • The invention of “Trauma” and “safe spaces”

QUARTERLY FEES

MEMO’S 1879

• “Wrote about new machine to Coventry C0, March 1 1879 • Ordered 50 inch Club Machine March 7• Fetched my new 50 inch machine April 16 1879• New Valise April 29th

• New Rubber for Spring May 19, June 14, July 19, 23 (red)) August 13, No 3 thick used 31/8/79 (Break blocks?)

• Had Bicycle Stand Oct 29th

• GM Cycling call papers to be pd for by club for future• Distance ridden on 48 in machine from June 4 , 1877 to April 1880

4266 miles: 1877 1404; 1878 2196; 1879 666

PERSONAL CYCLING DIARY

PERSONAL MEMO 1880(THE CYCLIST CAREER)

• Had new uniform March 20• Had match box pedals • Elected member BTC Feb 28• Resigned from Atalanta• Resignation accepted• Elected member of Civil Service C. C.• New Rubber for spring (break blocks?)• Adv 48 inch April 1880• Sold ditto• Gave up taking “Bicycling Times”• Began taking “Cyclist”• New Bicycling Gloves• New Bell Challis

MEMO’S 1880 (CONT)

• New Rubber for spring (break blocks?)• Adv 48 inch April 1880• Sold ditto• Gave up taking “Bicycling Times”• Began taking “Cyclist”• New Bicycling Gloves• New Bell Challis