Ivy League Posture Photos
Yale started taking nude photos of incoming freshmen in 1919 as part of a program to detect and correct posture problems. The Yale photos have erroneously been associated with William Sheldon, a psychologist at Harvard and author of Nazi-like eugenic theories who used Harvard nude posture photos to illustrate his theory of somatypes. But, as far as I can tell, the Yale photos are not connected to Sheldon's work.
Here are five more posture photos taken at Yale that I had the opportunity to acquire. For privacy reasons, I redact the names of men who might still be alive. Two of these men have not passed away, so their names are redacted.
This is Yale freshman John Flexer Waltzer on Oct. 12, 1953.
An article in the Journal of the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation described how in spring, 1952, Yale installed an apparatus using mirrors to produce "PhotoMetric" posture photos like this showing front, rear, side and top views.
This is Yale freshman Glenn Dean Loucks on Nov. 3, 1953.
Note the strange pins stuck to each student's back and chest. The pins were stuck on at specific points for later posture analysis. Supposedly, by examining the angles formed by connecting the points where the pins touched the body, certain posture problems could be detected.
This is Yale freshman Christopher M. James on Oct. 7, 1953.
The photos were then analyzed. If posture problems were detected, the student had to attend remedial posture sessions.
This is Yale freshman E. I. on Oct. 7, 1953.
The photography and analysis of the photos was conducted by the staff of Yale's Payne Whitney Gymnasium. Nobody outside this staff saw the photos, and the photos were not published for other students to see.
This is Yale freshman R. H. on Oct. 5, 1953.
After the photos were used, they were filed away. The posture photo program was discontinued in the 1960s, and later, most of the photos were burned. However, some of the photos escaped burning, including the photos that I have been showing in this series.
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Note: some of my followers have questioned the propriety of publishing these photos. If you think I should not publish them, please don't comment to that effect. Too much time and space has been taken up on the subject. We can agree to disagree. If you don't like it, go to some other blog. Here is my position:
1. Were these photos an invasion of privacy for the students? By today's standards, yes. By the standards of the day, not so much. In that era, guys were routinely naked around each other in locker rooms and in swimming pools when women weren't present. Being asked to strip and even being photographed naked as part of a posture examination would not seem too outrageous.
2. To protect the privacy of the students, I redact the names of students who may still be alive. I only publish the names of students who have died. Legally, the right to privacy does not extend beyond death, i.e. it does not extend to spouses, children, grandchildren, etc. of the deceased person.
3. In my opinion, publishing these photos is similar to publishing nude photos of athletes and soldiers taken by LIFE magazine photographers. At the time, the understanding of the photo subjects was that photos with frontal nudity would not be published in the magazine (and they never were), but the LIFE photo archive containing those photos is now publicly available online, and nobody seems to be complaining about it.
4. I consider these photos to be a historical record of the time. Almost all of the Ivy League posture photos were burned when their existence became widely known. In my opinion, that was akin to book-burning of books that someone claimed were obscene. These photos are not obscene. They should be celebrated, not hidden away.
17 comments:
When I first saw these, I thought they were part of some Nazi-like scheme. I have relaxed about them, and agree that they are not some evil plot.
just curious how do you proof that they have died?
The young men obviously did not report to the gym one by one but most likely in groups. Do any photographs exist which could be labelled "behind-the-scenes" showing the students getting the stickers applied to their bodies, or lined up in a corridor waiting to have their photos taken? I wish I could have been present in the gym to observe the entire process.
@Anon - Some Yale classes, such as the class of 1957 that all of today's men belonged to, have an online site that lists class members who have died. In the absence of that, I look for obituaries and similar info. If I cannot find proof that the man has died, I assume that he might still be alive, and I do not reveal his name.
@Anon - Much as I would like to see some "behind the scenes" photos, I have never come across any, and I have extensively researched this topic.
John Waltzer was particularly good looking, and his tan lines indicate that he spent a lot time letting people see much of that nice body ;-)
Wouldn't it be simpler to just redact all family names?
@Anon - Simpler to redact all family names? Yes, but that’s missing the point. As I mentioned in my notes at the end of the post, I consider these photos to be a historical record of the time, and I’m proud to publish that historical record. Redacting the names is a form of censorship, blotting out part of the record. I could also cover the genitals in the photos to avoid privacy issues, but that would also be censorship, which I deplore.
However, I recognize the right to privacy, and I will not violate someone’s right to privacy by posting a naked photo of him without his consent. That’s why I redact the names of the Yale students who may still be alive. But the right to privacy dies with the individual, and I think it’s worth researching who has died so that I am censoring these photos as little as possible.
Mr. Waltzer was a catch!! He knew that!!
No ceo que sea una invasión de la intimidad de nadie y menos en aquella época siempre y cuando no fueran obligados y no parece el caso. Por otra parte estos estudios seguramente fueron muy útiles para quienes tenemos problemas de ese tipo en una época sin ordenadores ni apoyos técnicos.
Personalmente he pasado muchas horas desnudo precisamente por esos problemas físicos y puedo asegurar que en ningún momento se ha tenido en cuenta esa supuesta intimidad y he de añadir que si me hubieran fotografiado no me importaría que se publicaran esas imágenes. El primero tiene una ligera escoliosis y era una forma fácil de estudiarla a nivel estudiantil y de investigación.
Con tanta corrección política si que podemos caer en actitudes totalitarias.
Thank for providing more info about the process! Just curious, how many photos have you acquired totally?
In researching Glenn Dean Loucks, I found his 2014 obituary. Among other things, it said the following: "As quarterback of the football team of 1950-1952, he was part of three undefeated seasons. Dean was All County, All Metropolitan and All American. At Yale University as quarterback he earned All Ivy League and All East honors. He graduated from Yale in 1957." Not too often that you get to see the quarterback of an Ivy League school totally naked: front, side, and center.
They are so different compared to the Baltic guys
These mandatory nude photo sessions began in 1919. Any credible record of any one student (or groups of students) objecting to this requirement? Yes, I know, it was a different age and culture and time, but, even with that in mind, it's hard to believe no one ever complained about the blatant invasion of privacy.
From these Yale pictures, it looks like most if not all of them had shaved chests but kept their pubic hair. I wonder if a shaved chest was a requirement for these photos or if it was just the style at the time. Have you ever found one where the man was fully shaved?
@Anon - Nobody objected, at least officially. Ron Rosenbaum, Yale ’68, wrote about it in the New York Times: “Neither I nor any of my classmates questioned it. Just like the ‘poor little lambs,’ we went along with it. Our fear of questioning Yale’s authority so early in our career trumped our feelings of embarassment...”
Comedian Dick Cavett, Yale ’58, joked about it in his act. But no, nobody objected.
@Anon - regarding shaved chests, I don't think any of them shaved their chests. Remember, these were freshmen – 18 year olds. They probably hadn't grown much chest hair. Shaving chests was not a thing back then. Olympic swimmers started shaving their body hair in 1957, but no other males did. (Females had been shaving body hair since 1915.)
As for pubic hair, the "Brazilian" waxing started in 1987, long after these Yale photos, followed by manscaping around the turn of the century – the current century, i.e. 2000. So, no, none of the Yalies were fully shaved.
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