“Health and Fun Shall Walk Hand in Hand”: The First 100 Years of Women’s Athletics at UW-Madison

In 2004 the University of Wisconsin-Madison celebrated the 30th anniversary of women’s intercollegiate athletics. But women’s sports at Wisconsin enjoy a much older and richer tradition than this milestone suggests.

This narrative traces the history of Wisconsin women’s athletics back to the nineteenth century.

By Chris Hartman for the UW-Madison Archives (2004).

1. Introduction
   • The Early Days
   • Calisthenics and Drills
   • Women’s Athletic Association (WAA)
   • Facilities: Expansion in the 1910s
   • Blanche Trilling and the Evils of Competition
   • The Effects of “Play for Plays Sake”
   • From Culture to Education: The P.E. Department
   • Margaret H’Doubler and the Wisconsin Dance Idea
   • The Quiet Years: 1930s-1950s
   • Epilogue: The Sea Change of Title IX
   • Notes (see pdf for exhibit footnotes)
   • Bibliography

““Health and Fun Shall Walk Hand in Hand” by Chris Hartman [pdf] (2004)