The Tip of the Iceberg:

A brief starting point for the History of Skating in a the small Midwestern town of Oberlin, Ohio

 

To start you off on the history of skating on the right leg, I should direct you to the following link to a page that will give an extended version of the history of roller-skating, from its conception in Europe to its rapid immigration and ever increasing popularity in the United States. http://www.blisreel.com.au/skating/history.htm

(So, for some reason this link gets a special "%20" added to it when you try and link to it. Its just the man up to his old tricks. When it says, page can not be found, just delete the "%20" and enjoy. )

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What began as a study of the development of the enjoyment of Roller Skating in this town turned into a learning experience in the difficulties in historical research, especially in local history. The information I was able to gather serves as a striking off point, I hope, for future pursuance of all that which eluded me. Most of my facts are entirely incidental anecdotes or somewhat factual newspaper information. I was working on this project for a class but also out of an interest in studying the history of something I myself enjoyed very much in an attempt, on a local level, to figure out the place of me and my fun Wednesday nights at a nearby skating rink in the one hundred and sixty five years of the town and in the general time cycle of the world.

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For some names and remembrances of both roller and ice skating in Oberlin compiled from an oral history project of local residents, click your heels three times, and then click "STORIES" twice.

 

For some attempts to thread articles from local newspapers, covering the years between 1881 and 1909 all about your favorite pastime and mine, click on the way you feel about roller-skating... I LOVE ROLLER-SKATING or I LOVE ROLLER-SKATING

 

For a funny letter written to the Editor of the Oberlin News in 1909, click on "WREAKING HAVOC"

 

For the paper I wrote to my professor, talking about the problems I encountered in my research and the directions both those problems and my own interests have led me in, click DANCE PARTY USA... (The most exciting part of the paper for me, is the ideas that my exposure to local history inspired in terms of projects with local public school childen, both teaching them about the process of history and its documentation while at the same time, compiling a large source of recorded local history.)

 

For a link to my little ol' home sweet home page, click on "Me"

 

For a link to my class home page, click on "Us and Them"