From skisport to skiing : one hundred years of an American sport, 1840-1940 / E. John B. Allen.

By:

Allen, E. John B, 1933-

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, �1993.Description: 1 online resource (xiii, 229 pages) : illustrationsContent type:

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

0585083029
9780585083025
1122054564
9781122054560

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Additional physical formats: Print version:: From skisport to skiing.DDC classification:

796.93/0973 20

LOC classification:

GV854.4 .A4 1993eb

Online resources:

Click here to access online

Contents:

Pt. 1. The Skisport 1840-1920. 1. The Skisport: An Introduction. 2. California Gold Rush Snow-Shoeing. 3. Utilitarian Skiing and Ludic Enthusiasms. 4. Foundation of the Skisport. 5. Controlling the Skisport. 6. The New Enthusiasts -- pt. 2. The Mechanization of Skiing, 1920-1940. 7. Post-World War I: Prelude to Skiing. 8. The Mechanization of Skiing. 9. The Sport of Skiing. 10. Western Idylls. 11. The Economics of Pleasure. 12. Epilogue: To the Future.

Action note:

digitized 2010 committed to preserve

Summary: The first full-length study of skiing in the United States, this book traces the history of the sport from its utilitarian origins to its advent as a purely recreational and competitive activity. During the mid-1800s, inhabitants of frontier mining communities in the Sierra and Rocky mountains used skis for many practical reasons, including mail and supply delivery, hunting, and railroad repair. In some towns skis were so common that, according to one California newspaper, "the ladies do nearly all their shopping and visiting on them." But it was Norwegian immigrants in the Midwest, clinging to their homeland traditions, who first organized the skisport. Through the founding of local clubs and the National Ski Association, this ethnic group dominated American skiing until the 1930s. At this time, a wave of German immigrants infused America with the ethos of what we today call Alpine skiing. This type of skiing became increasingly popular, especially in the East among wealthy collegians committed to the romantic pursuit of the "strenuous life." Ski clubs proliferated in towns and on college campuses and specialized resorts cropped up from New England to California. At the same time, skiing became mechanized with tows and lifts, and the blossoming equipment and fashion industries made a business of the sport. On the eve of World War II, as the book concludes its story, all the elements were in place for the explosion in recreational and competitive skiing that erupted after 1945.

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Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-226) and index.

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Electronic reproduction. [S.l.] : HathiTrust Digital Library, 2010. MiAaHDL

Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. MiAaHDL

http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212

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Print version record.

The first full-length study of skiing in the United States, this book traces the history of the sport from its utilitarian origins to its advent as a purely recreational and competitive activity. During the mid-1800s, inhabitants of frontier mining communities in the Sierra and Rocky mountains used skis for many practical reasons, including mail and supply delivery, hunting, and railroad repair. In some towns skis were so common that, according to one California newspaper, "the ladies do nearly all their shopping and visiting on them." But it was Norwegian immigrants in the Midwest, clinging to their homeland traditions, who first organized the skisport. Through the founding of local clubs and the National Ski Association, this ethnic group dominated American skiing until the 1930s. At this time, a wave of German immigrants infused America with the ethos of what we today call Alpine skiing. This type of skiing became increasingly popular, especially in the East among wealthy collegians committed to the romantic pursuit of the "strenuous life." Ski clubs proliferated in towns and on college campuses and specialized resorts cropped up from New England to California. At the same time, skiing became mechanized with tows and lifts, and the blossoming equipment and fashion industries made a business of the sport. On the eve of World War II, as the book concludes its story, all the elements were in place for the explosion in recreational and competitive skiing that erupted after 1945.

English.

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