ABSTRACT

In the social history of early American sport, women have been ambiguous creatures. Out of this work, some will emerge slightly less ambiguous, but ideally no longer as creatures. Except for the initial years of settling Virginia, women were both agents and clients in the definition of colonial and early nineteenth-century society and its sport. This piece suggestively sketches the involvement of white, middling and upper rank Anglo-American and, eventually, American women in this era's sporting life. 1