The Roberts Rain Shower Bath

Item Information

Title:
The Roberts Rain Shower Bath
Description:
Drawing of the Rain Shower Bath, designed by Robert J. Roberts. There existed those people who deemed a bath "once a week" a most useless formality, which must be indulged in to preserve their social standing in the community. When Robert J. Roberts became "superintendent" of the Boston YMCA gymnasium, baths were unknown in that establishment. He tells how as a boy he enjoyed getting out in the rain and being showered. The memory of those showers gave him an idea, and mindful of the stimulating effects of raindrops, he devised what he called the "Rain Shower Bath".
Creator:
Brink, B. Deane
Creator:
Roberts, Robert J.
Date:
1916
Format:
Photographs
Location:
Springfield College Archives and Special Collections
Collection (local):
College Archives Digital Collections
Subjects:
Springfield College--Faculty
Young Men's Christian Association of North America
School for Christian Workers (Springfield, Mass.)
Springfield College
Roberts, Robert J.
Hygiene
Bathing
Places:
Massachusetts > Hampden (county) > Springfield
Link to Item:
http://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15370coll2/id/6
Terms of Use:
Text and images are owned, held, or licensed by Springfield College and are available for personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that ownership is properly cited. A credit line is required and should read: Courtesy of Springfield College, Babson Library, Archives and Special Collections. Any commercial use without written permission from Springfield College is strictly prohibited. Other individuals or entities other than, and in addition to, Springfield College may also own copyrights and other propriety rights. The publishing, exhibiting, or broadcasting party assumes all responsibility for clearing reproduction rights and for any infringement of United States copyright law.
Contact host institution for more information.
Publisher:
Association Press
Language:
English
Notes:
Robert J. Roberts blazed the trail for physical education in the Young Men's Christian Association, including being brought into the School for Christian Workers, now Springfield College, along with Luther Gulick to help set up and run the newly formed Gymnasium department in 1887. He remained at Springfield College until the end of the 1888-89 school year. Luther Gulick, referring to Robert J. Roberts, states that "few men have ever crowded the experience of a lifetime so adequately into a sentence: All exercises should be safe, short, easy, beneficial, and pleasing".
It is unclear as to whether or not the illustrations in the book were done by Roberts however, because they are presumed to be, he has been credited as a creator along with the book's author, B. Deane Brink. For a link to the full text of this book, see http://www.archive.org/stream/bodybuilderrober00brin#page/n9/mode/2up
Image from page 31 of the 1916 edition of “The Body Builder: Robert J. Roberts Being a Collection of Drills and Health Hints, and Appreciations of the Man Who Blazed the Trail for Physical Education in the Young Men’s Christian Association” by B. Deane Brink. Published by Association Press, New York and copyrighted by the International Committee of Young Men’s Christian Association.
Identifier:
The-Bodybuilder-Brink-1916-31