Amherst College Department of Hygiene and Physical Education Records

Amherst College Department of Hygiene and Physical Education was formed in 1860; it was the first physical education program at an institution of higher education in the United States. The first professor in the department was John W. Hooker, who was replaced by Edward Hitchcock, Jr (AC 1849) in 1861. Hitchcock was instrumental in the development and promotion of physical education curriculum locally and nationaly; he taught in the department until his death in 1911. Other professors in the department include Richard Nelligan (1892-1929), Paul C. Phillips (1896-1929), A. W. "Eli" Marsh (1917-1958) and Albert "Al" Lumley (1928-1968).

The Department of Hygiene and Physical Education was formed in response to a perceived problem of ill health among Amherst College students due to too much studying and lack of physical activity. For the first four decades of the department's existance, students were required to attend classes four days a week focused primarily on calesthenics and strength building. Competitive sports were extra-curricular and student organized during this time. Students were also required to attend hygiene courses, which covered a wide variety of topics considered to impact healthy living.

Professor Hitchcock and his sucessors played a role in the development of anthropometry, the study of human bodies using detailed measurements. Hitchcock gathered a variety of data about students throughout their college years, including physical and strength measurements, demographic data, and health information. Aggregated measurements of Amherst students and students from other institutions were used by Hitchcock to promote the benefits of physical education to the college community and on the national stage.

Over the course of the early decades of the twentieth century, the department shifted to a more modern philosophy of phyiscal education. By the late 1940s, the department was teaching competitive sports and no longer offered the group calisthenics that were the hallmark of the nineteenth century, hygiene courses were no longer offered, and student measurements were not taken. The department removed the "Hygiene" from its name in 1933 and became the Physical Education Deparment.