Thursday, January 4, 2018

Unusual Bicycle Messenger Photograph

Telegraph messenger, Berlin  (LOC)
Telegraph messenger, Berlin - during WWI

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.19641 persistent link to this Library of Congress collection item, a digitized Bain News Service photograph.

Bicycle messengers in the US 100 years ago or so were usually teenage boys, hardly old enough to serve in the army, but apparently in Berlin this was not the case since with the men off serving, this woman was a bicycle messenger. Her attire, with long skirt, is not particularly practical for this activity (but it could have been worse). Her single-speed bicycle with a simple spoon brake with a step-through frame is probably not inferior to a mens that would have been used for this purpose at the time.

Presumably this photograph was taken before the United States joined the war against Germany.

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