author
Fred Eugene Leonard
1866–1922
A pioneer in the study of physical education, this early 20th-century writer helped turn exercise and training into a subject of serious history and scholarship. His books explore how physical culture developed across countries, schools, and institutions.
1 Audiobook
A guide to the history of physical education
by Fred Eugene Leonard
About the author
Born in 1866, Fred Eugene Leonard was an American scholar whose work focused on hygiene and physical education. Archival material from Oberlin College describes him as the son of Congregational minister Delavan Levant Leonard and Mary Louise Raymond, and notes that his family lived in several states during his youth.
Leonard became known for writing substantial works on the history of physical education. His books include Pioneers of Modern Physical Training, Physical Education in Denmark, and A Guide to the History of Physical Education, a wide-ranging study that helped document how exercise, training, and school-based physical culture developed over time.
He died in 1922. Today, his writing remains most interesting for readers who enjoy the history of sport, education, and ideas about health, especially as they were taking shape in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.