Jessie H. Bancroft

Jessie Hubbell Bancroft (1867–1952) was an American educator, a pioneer of physical education and a founder and a president of the American Posture League.

Biography She was born in Winona, Minnesota in December 1867, and was exposed to the Delsarte System of Physical Culture while studying at Winona Normal School.

During 1893–1903 she was Director of Physical Training of the Brooklyn Schools and from 1904 until retirement in 1928 she was Assistant Director of Physical Education of the schools of Greater New York City. She was also made a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Books 1896 (reprinted 1903): School Gymnastics, Free Hand: A System of Physical Exercises for Schools 1900: School Gymnastics with Light Apparatus 1915: Gimnasia escolar sin aparatos, Spanish translation 1909: Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium 1942: Revised and expanded edition, Macmillan Company 1913: The Posture of School Children 1916: (with William Dean Pulvermacher) Handbook of Athletic Games: For Players, Instructors, and Spectators, Comprising Fifteen Major Ball Games, Track and Field Athletics and Rowing Races