An Ode to the Bicycle

Time to dust off your velocipedes and bone-shakers! The League of American Bicyclists have declared May to be “National Bike Month” and have several events lined up to celebrate biking everywhere; Bike to Work Day (May 16), Bike to School Day (May 7), and Cyclofemme (May 11) .

I love picking a theme or keyword and browsing through the Smithsonian’s collections. It turns out ‘bicycle’ yields some exciting results:

• A letter carrier delivering mail by bicycle 
• A spiffy bicycle logo 
• A colorful drawing of a boy with his bicycle 
• A bicycle toy from South Africa 
• A cyclist greeting card 
• A portrait of Audrey Hepburn on a bicycle  
• A bicyclist matchsafe
• Sarah Hammer’s cycling shoes 
• A Roper steam velocipede 
• The Wright brothers bicycle shop stationary
• and a bicycling stamp 

Here is a selection of our very own cycles from the history of the Smithsonian:

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Untitled c. 1905, RU7179_Box1_F21_Heller05 [SPI_1655].

Smithsonian Employee George C. Maynard Outside the US National Museum, c. 1900-1918, MAH 56795.

Visitors to the Transportation Hall, Arts & Industries Building, 1955, SIA2010-3260.

Steam Tricycle in Front of North Entrance to Smithsonian Castle, 1888, MAH-57818.

Transportation Hall, National Museum of History and Technology, 1972, 72-5118.

Visitors to the Transportation Hall, Arts & Industries Building, 1955, SIA2010-3259.

Related Resources

• The Development of the Bicycle, America on the Move, National Museum of American History 
• The Wright Cycle Co. History

Related Collections

• Bicycles Across the Smithsonian