I got a lot of emails and comments after the posts about girls gym classes in the early 1950s, many of them somewhat incredulous that it took so long for this to happen. Here’s another picture of the same vintage, this one taken inside the then-new gymnasium, although I think this was intramural activity rather than a class:
There were a couple of earlier, short-lived attempts to hold regular gym classes for the co-eds, the earliest in the mid-1920s. Although tumbling for girls did enjoy some popularity for a while, most of the young women had less than no interest at all in attending gym class. It became, in fact, the object of mild but sustained mockery, as in this Thresher cartoon from 1924, and did not last long:
Bonus: Does anyone know what kind of tree this is? Extra credit if you know where it is.
