Records of the Department of Physical Education : anthropometric measurements of Harvard students, 1860-1920

Dudley Allen Sargent's zeal for the study of perfection launched a data collection process at Harvard that extended to every entering freshman for almost half a century. In his effort to find research subjects for "anthropometric measurements," measurements of the human body, he enlisted the help of the Dept. of Physical Education. Incoming Harvard students from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century were carefully measured. Parallel data on each student's physical condition was collected in the form of photographs. Students appear in the nude, standing next to a measuring stick. Views were taken from the student's side, front, and back.

Sargent (1849-1924) was an early innovator in physical education. His long association with Harvard included his years as Director of the Hemenway Gymnasium at Harvard from 1879 to 1919. During this time, he also established and taught at the Harvard Summer School of Physical Education.

Sargent also established a private gymnasium in Cambridge, Massachusetts, known as the Sanatory Gymnasium. At the Sanatory Gymnasium, he directed an exercise program for the female Harvard students until 1892. These were students who studied in the Harvard Annex, which later became Radcliffe College.

He also conducted physical education teacher training courses, which eventually became the Sargent College of Physical Education, and was later associated with Boston University.

Sargent went to great lengths to research the perfect proportions of the human body, using his Harvard and other connections to procure research subjects and data. He had three ways of obtaining subjects for anthropometric measurement. He recorded and/or collected sets of anthropometric measurements from his Harvard students, Sargent School pupils, and Sanatory Gymnasium clients. He also sent individuals blank data cards, on which their measurements could be recorded, and responded with an assessment or chart of their condition. Finally, Sargent's students and colleagues returned to their home institutions, found research subjects, recorded their measurements, and sent completed data cards back to Sargent.