By Laurel White
In 1889, Clara Ballard arrived at UW–Madison from Boston’s Allen School of Gymnastics. Her arrival heralded a new era for the physical education of women in Wisconsin — one that would come to influence scholars of the body, fitness, and movement in Wisconsin and around the world for decades to come.
For her part, Ballard convinced the university’s board of regents to allow space in Ladies Hall (now Chadbourne Hall) to conduct voluntary classes in “physical culture.” Her classes became so undeniably popular that the university soon purchased additional equipment and doubled her salary.
In the years that followed, Ballard’s colleagues and successors included Blanche Trilling, who was instrumental in the creation of the first governing body for women’s college athletics, Margaret H’Doubler, who created the first academic dance degree program in the United States, and Ruth Glassow, a pioneer in biomechanics who broke new ground in using motion pictures to study athletic movement.
The women of UW–Madison’s Department of Physical Education for Women — which existed from 1912 until its merger with the men’s department in 1976 — pushed boundaries and broke new ground in women’s academic and social relationships with sport and science. Their work is at the heart of a new virtual history exhibit, “Trailblazers in Motion,” created at UW–Madison.
Cindy Kuhrasch, a distinguished teaching faculty member in the School of Education’s Department of Kinesiology, curated the project over the past five years with vital support from Katie Nash, university archivist and head of UW-Madison Archives. Kuhrasch says she hopes the exhibit elevates the legacy of women like Trilling, who led the Department of Physical Education for Women for three decades and recruited many of its standout scholars.
“I love giving Blanche the credit she deserves,” Kuhrasch says. “She’s the one who brought everyone here, she’s the one who was the glue.”
Kuhrasch says unearthing the photos, audio, and video that illuminate the lives of the extraordinary women of the Department of Physical Education for Women was nothing short of inspiring.
“Everywhere they turned, people were telling them, ‘You can’t, you’re too delicate, you can’t move, you can’t have a space,’ and they just pushed forward,” Kuhrasch says. “This exhibit is not just a collection of memories or artifacts, it’s a celebration of these women.”
The exhibit — which is also available to view on a touch screen on the first floor of the Medical Sciences Center on campus — spans the arrival of the first female students at UW–Madison to the current programming of the School of Education’s physical education teacher education program.
Andrea Mason, chair of the Department of Kinesiology, says the exhibit showcases how the groundbreaking philosophy of the Department of Physical Education for Women is still felt in UW–Madison’s physical education program. She notes the program was an early champion for physical education encompassing the body, mind, and community.
“The legacy of physical education in our department is not just historical, it’s philosophical,” Mason says. “These women not only excelled in their academic and teaching roles but they also helped redefine the roles of physical education through inclusive practice, community engagement, and a commitment to student development.”
Marcelle Haddix, dean of the School of Education, lauds the precursor of the Department of Kinesiology as “one of the School’s first departments and one of our most dynamic.”
“It helped shape the values we’re still committed to today,” Haddix says. “What stands out to me is how forward-thinking the curriculum was. It wasn’t just about physical activity, but it included teaching methods, science, leadership, and service to the community. It gave women the tools to lead not just in schools but in the broader movement for equity and health.”
At a recent sneak peek event for the virtual history exhibit, alumna Susan Schaffer, who went on to become the first female vice president of United Airlines, credited the program for her successful career.
“I give a lot of credit to all that I learned at the University of Wisconsin, the PE program, with giving me the guts to do some of the things I did,” Schaffer said.
Another alumna, Constance Fried, noted five of the 16 women in her graduating class are still active in their early nineties and remain in touch. She joked the group’s longevity is a testament to “what we all learned back then.”
Kuhrasch says her students have been “all over” the archive photos, notes, and recordings, revelling in the bits of history that connect them and their passions to the women who paved their way. She hopes the exhibit will continue to inspire future educators — and delight some very well-deserving alumnae.
“What was lost, you have recovered,” alumna Betty Atwater told Kuhrasch. “Thank you.”
View the virtual history exhibit at https://go.wisc.edu/womenspehistoryexhibit or visit the interactive screen on the first floor of the Medical Sciences Center