1859.51

Girls Play Base Ball at Eagleswood School

Salience	Noteworthy
Tags	FemalesFemales
Location	New JerseyNew Jersey
City/State/Country:	Perth Amboy, NJ, United States
Modern Address
Game
Immediacy of Report	Contemporary
Age of Players	YouthYouth
Holiday
Notables	Francis Dana Gage
Text	In 1859, the women's rights advocate and abolitionist Frances Dana Barker Gage wrote a letter from St. Louis to physician friends at the Glen Haven Water Cure in New York. She informed them of positive advancements in physical fitness for students at the Eagleswood School in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Among the games both male and female students were playing was base ball. Gage concluded that she was planning to ask the principal at Dansville Seminary (in St. Louis?) to add baseball to its program for girls too.
Sources	"Muscle Looking Up," Austin, Harriet, N., Dr. and Jackson, James. C., Dr., eds., The Letter-Box, Vols 1 and 2, 1858-9, (Dansville, NY: M. W. Simmons, 1859), 99.
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Query	Is this the first time, as far as we know, that females played base ball by modern rules? Edit with form to add a query
Source Image	[[Image:\|left\|thumb]]
External Number
Submitted by	Deb Shattuck
Submission Note	Posted 10/4/2013
Has Supplemental Text

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