Roller skating collection

Roller skating has had a chequered past over its nearly three hundred year history. Given its ebb and flow of popularity since the start of the 20th century, writers labelled each generation's attraction a "craze!" The caption in a 1904 Decatur newspaper read, "Old Craze Comes Back," adding, "Roller skating promises to be as popular as it was twenty years ago." Reported on 11th October 1904, the statement announced the opening events of a new roller-skating rink in Decatur, Illinois. In 1906, with the opening of another Chicago rink, the Inter Ocean newspaper complained that "after twenty years of exemption from the affliction, the desire to roll is again taking possession of American adults...the mania has struck Chicago!”

The resultant antics of novices on the rinks proved an inspiration to postcard publishers like Bamforth and cartoonists like Dudley Buxton with this early B&W postcard, Thackeray and others below. The skating rink also provided a backdrop for fashion sketches like those in the Charles Naillod cards (PC_ArtN_Naillod11 and PC_ArtN_Naillod12). Tom Browne meanwhile points to the dangers presented by skating away from the rink (PC_Browne_313).

Sub-albums

Skating as Fashion Statement

Postcards

PC_Buxton0002
PC_Buxton0003
PC_Comic_Skate28
PC_Skate-Autograph (1)
PC_Skate-Hammersmith (1)Postcard franked 1910 - Hammersmith Palais (Opening?) Hammersmith Palais was built on 1910 on a site formerly occupied by a tram shed for London United Tramways as the Brook Green Roller Skating Rink. Later it served as an ice rink and, most famously, as a 'palais de danse' with a capacity of 2,500. Dancing continued all through the Second World War despite the Blitz. From the 1960s the Palais was increasingly used for live concerts and club nights. It finally closed in 2007
PC_Comic_Skate-D001
PC_Comic_Skate-D002
PC_Comic_Skate-D003
PC_Comic_Skate-D004
PC_Comic_Skate-D005
PC_Comic_Skate-D4857
PC_Comic_Skate-D4858
PC_Comic_Skate-D4860
PC_Comic_Skate-D4861
PC_Comic_Skate-D4862
PC_Comic_Skate-D4864
PC_Comic_Skate-D4865
PC_Comic_Skate-D4867
PC_Comic_Skate-D4868
PC_Comic_Skate-D4869
PC_Comic_Skate-D4870
PC_Comic_Skate-D4871
PC_Comic_Skate-D4872
PC_Comic_Skate-D4874
PC_Comic_Skate-D4875
PC_Comic_Skate-D4876
PC_Comic_Skate-Hart01
PC_Comic_Skate-Hart02
PC_Comic_Skate-Hints01
PC_Comic_Skate-Hints02
PC_Comic_Skate-Hints03
PC_Comic_Skate77
PC_Comic_Skate-Hints04
PC_Comic_Skate-Hints05
PC_Comic_Skate80
PC_Comic_Skate-Hints06
PC_Comic_Skate-Hints07
PC_Comic_Skate-Hints08
PC_Comic_Skate-Hints09
PC_Comic_Skate24
PC_Comic_Skate25
PC_Comic_Skate26
PC_Comic_Skate42
PC_Comic_Skate-R001
PC_Comic_Skate-R002
PC_Comic_Skate-R003
PC_Comic_Skate-R004
PC_Comic_Skate-R005
PC_Comic_Skate-R006
PC_Comic_Skate62
PC_Comic_Skate35
PC_Comic_Skate44 (1)
PC_Comic_Skate76
PC_Comic_Skate75
PC_Comic_Skate78
PC_Comic_Skate81
PC_Comic_Skate79
PC_Comic_Skate82
PC_Comic_Skate63
PC_Comic_Skate12
PC_Comic_Skate43 (1)
PC_Comic_Skate66
PC_Comic_Skate64
PC_Edwardian Actors-Phyllis Dare3-Skate
PC_Comic_Skate45 (1)
PC_Comic_Skate14
PC_Comic_Skate05
PC_Comic_Skate-Kismet143
PC_Comic_Skate15
PC_Comic_Skate17
PC_Comic_Skate19
PC_Comic_Skate01
PC_Comic_Skate38
PC_Comic_Skate02
PC_Comic_Skate03
PC_Comic_Skate04
PC_Comic_Skate21
PC_Comic_Skate41
PC_Comic_Skate-Spatz6030
PC_Comic_Skate-Spatz6035
PC_Comic_Skate-Spatz6027
PC_Comic_Skate-Spatz6034
PC_Comic_Skate-Spatz6038
PC_Comic_Skate-Syllikuss01
PC_Comic_Skate-Syllikuss02
PC_Comic_Skate-Syllikuss03
PC_Bamforth_S1463
PC_Bamforth_S1451
PC_Bamforth_S1460
PC_Bamforth_S1462
PC_Bamforth_S1464
PC_Bamforth_S1535
PC_Bamforth_S1465
PC_Bamforth_S1544
PC_Bamforth_S1536
PC_Bamforth_S1562
PC_Bamforth_S1563
PC_Bamforth_S1564
PC_Bamforth_S1565
PC_Bamforth_S1534
PC_Bamforth_S1548
PC_Bamforth_S1555
PC_Bamforth_S1537
PC_Bamforth_S1545
PC_Bamforth_S1556
PC_Comic_Skate-ValChrystoleum01
PC_Comic_Skate-ValChrystoleum02
PC_Comic_Skate-ValChrystoleum03
PC_Comic_Skate-ValChrystoleum04
PC_Comic_Skate-ValChrystoleum05
PC_Comic_Skate-ValChrystoleum06
PC_Comic_Skate-W+K1818a
PC_Comic_Skate-W+K1818b
PC_Comic_Skate-W+K1818d
PC_Comic_Skate-W+K1818e
PC_Comic_Skate-W+W1818c
PC_Comic_Skate06
PC_Comic_Skate07
PC_Comic_Skate08
PC_Comic_Skate09
PC_Comic_Skate10
PC_Comic_Skate11
PC_Comic_Skate59
PC_Comic_Skate18
PC_Comic_Skate22
PC_Comic_Skate46
PC_Comic_Skate47
PC_Comic_Skate48
PC_Comic_Skate51
PC_Comic_Skate49
PC_Comic_Skate50
PC_Comic_Skate52
PC_Comic_Skate53
PC_Comic_Skate54
PC_Comic_Skate55
PC_Comic_Skate56
PC_Comic_Skate57
PC_Comic_Skate58
PC_Comic_Skate60
PC_Comic_Skate61
PC_Comic_Skate20
PC_Comic_Skate4694
PC_Comic_Skate7592
PC_Comic_Skate29
PC_Comic_Skate36
PC_Comic_Skate31
PC_Comic_Skate-NatR01
PC_Comic_Skate-NatR02
PC_Comic_Skate-NatR03
PC_Comic_Skate-NatRS03
PC_Comic_Skate-NatRS01
PC_Comic_Skate-NatRS04
PC_Comic_Skate-NatRS05
PC_Comic_Skate-NatRS02
PC_Comic_Skate-NatS341
PC_Comic_Skate73
PC_Comic_Skate67
PC_Comic_Skate68
PC_Comic_Skate74
PC_Comic_Skate69
PC_Comic_Skate70a
PC_Comic_Skate70b
PC_Comic_Skate71
PC_Comic_Skate72
PC_Comic_Skate-NatS855
PC_Comic_Skate-NatS872
PC_Comic_Skate-NatS1141
PC_Comic_Skate-Rinkite414
PC_Comic_Skate-Rinkite415
PC_Comic_Skate-Rinkite417
PC_Comic_Skate33
PC_Comic_Skate32
PC_Comic_Skate37
PC_Comic_Skate16Postcard franked Yarmouth 1910 - Inter-Art “Kute Kiddies” series No: 622
PC_Comic_Skate65
PC_Comic_Skate34
PC_Cowes-Skate
PC_Comic_Skate39
PC_A-Thiele01The Wedding Party by German illustrator Carl Robert Arthur Thiele (b Leipzig 2-11-1860; d Leipzig 18-6-1936)
PC_Comic_Skate13
PC_Comic_Skate-HandDrawn
PC_Skate-Greetings01
PC_Comic_Skate30
PC_Comic_Skate40
PC_US-RGeary01Modern postcard unused - Drawing by Rick Geary 1982
PC_HTuerk-Skate