Bertha Von Hillern, Early Feminist Athlete

Bertha Von Hillern, Early Feminist Athlete Pedestrienne- Performs in Maine. The Pedestriennes were America's forgotten superstars-a handful of late 19th century female athletes who dazzled America with their remarkable endurance-walking performances. They often performed in front of raucous crowds who paid to watch them walk on makeshift tracks set up in reconfigured theaters and open houses. Top Pedestriennes often earned more money in one week than the average American took home in a year. Newspapers reported on their achievements and interviewed their champions. Their walking outfits became fashion plates,their pictures were sold in stores and they made personal appearances as national celebrities. The Pedestriennes exploits reshaped the country's attitudes about what women could accomplish and established the foundation for modern sports, the revival of the Olympic Games and the suffragist movement. Offering a 4 pp, ALS, Bucksport,[ Maine], August 12,1877,from a woman- appears to be Caitlin-to her parents. Our writer witnessed and writes about Bertha Von Hillern, the first feminist Pedestrienne and a German immigrant from a respectable military family. Von Hillern performed many solo exhibitions- at least 25 in 13 different cities. In Boston, about 10,000 people paid fifty cents each to watch her walk in circles at music hall. The Washington Post called her "one of the wonders of the nineteenth century." Our writers provides a wonderful firsthand account of this famous early feminist's performance. "It is Sunday morning. I am sitting upstairs writing this. I am the only one up in the house. They don't rise here till about 9 o' clock... Every day stormed so we stayed in the house until yesterday when we went down town about 4 o' clock Fran and myself and two other females... took supper to the coffee house: 10 cts for the supper... then in the evening we went to City Hall to see Miss Bertha Von Hillern walk. Perhaps you have seen an account of her in the Boston papers. She is great walkist. She walked 88 miles in 26 hours without resting more than twenty minutes at a time. There was a track laid round the hall filled with sawdust. She had to go round the hall filled with sawdust. She had to go round 19 times to make one mile. She commenced Friday evening at eight o' clock and walked all night and finished at ten last night. Chanlers band furnished music through the whole walk. It was nice music and such excitement and such cheering & waving of handkerchiefs and shouting every time she would make a mile..." Wonderful Early Feminist Americana. Folds, toning but very readable.