AUGUST IS NUDIST HISTORY MONTH

Time to uncover the history of nudism in modern America

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (July 2024) — As summertime is a great time to feel the warm breezes on one’s body, skinny dip, and take a Nakation vacation to a clothing optional resort, it’s also a great time to learn about the history of the nudist movement in North America and celebrate Nudist History Month in August.  So here goes.

Early New England settlers — 16th century Puritans — with their non-pleasure, morality-enforcing ways were so afraid of nudity, and the lust it could foster, that they refrained from bathing. Long forgotten were the robust ways of the ancient Greeks, who performed feats of strength and skill during the first Olympics, which of course was the earliest documented form of nude recreation.

However, as the colonial era gave way to a free and independent United States of America, “radical thinkers,” including Ben Franklin and Henry David Thoreau, publicity lauded the benefits in daily naked walks, or as they were called, “air baths.” Other nudists of note included President John Quincy Adams, who regularly bathed nude in the Potomac River, as documented in an 1819 diary entry.  Similarly, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn skinny dipped with abandon in the great Mississippi in Mark Twain’s classic American novels.

But these so-called radicals continued to remain a very small minority of the population until the dawn of the 20^th century brought more formal nudism to America.

Kurt Barthel, acknowledged as the founder of American nudism, was acquainted with other German nudists late in the 1920s and had allowed his name to be used as a local New York contact. On Labor Day of 1929, Kurt led a small group of individuals to a picnic in the buff in the Hudson Mountains near Peekskill, New York, and organized nude recreation in America was born with his dues-paying club, called the “American League for Physical Culture” (ALPC). The first official nudist club opened soon after on June 21, 1930, near Spring Valley in Rockland County, New York. By 1931, ALPC had welcomed over 200 new members and moved to an area near Dover, New Jersey.

In 1930, Ilsley Boone, the ALPC’s Executive Secretary left the ALPC and established the International Nudist Conference (INC).  The ALPC continued on under Barthel’s leadership and eventually became Sky Farm Nudist Resort (still operating today). Boon’s INC became the American Sunbathing Association. The ASA grew to nearly 50,000 members throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. One last name change occurred in 1995 when the ASA became the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) – to better reflect the activities of its membership.

Boone’s concept of the nudist lifestyle was that “a nudist is one who believes and practices that one may freely go without clothes unless for some specific reason — such as bodily comfort or social requirements — it is essential to wear them. This definition contemplates that there is nothing shameful in nakedness per se; that there is no need for discrimination between the several parts of the body as regards their respectability and acceptability; that for many forms of outdoor and indoor work, for outdoor sports, for swimming, possibly for life within the home, nudism offers a much more wholesome and healthy way of life than does clothed society. Nudists do not advocate a clothes free social order in the twentieth century, though such an eventuality is not inconceivable.”

In the mid-1900s the “Free Beach” movement started in California encouraging people to be nude when possible.  And in 1947, the term “skinny dip” is said to have been first recorded.  The practice is celebrated annually on International Skinny Dip Day (officially designated in 2018 by the American Association for Nude Recreation) and is held on the second Saturday each July.

After more than 90 years, nude recreation continues to grow as more people choose clothes-free and clothing optional Nakation℠ vacations. If you would like to learn more about the history of nudism in America, you can visit the American Nudist Research Library (ANRL) which is celebrating its 45^th anniversary this year. Established in 1979 to preserve the history of the social nudist movement, the ANRL is a non-profit organization operated entirely by volunteers, and members of the International Nudist Research Library Consortium.  The ANRL boasts a rare collection of memorabilia from the 1920s-on, as well as photos, videos, and other literary works from throughout North America and internationally.  To visit the library, located at the Cypress Cove Nudist Resort, please make advance reservations by calling (407) 933-2866, or write the American Nudist Research Library, 2950 Sun Cove Drive, Kissimmee, FL  34746, or email anrl@anrl.org .

ABOUT THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR NUDE RECREATION: AANR’s members demonstrate daily that life is enhanced by accepting the naturalness of the human form and by serving as good stewards of their environment. AANR supports over 180 chartered clubs, resorts, and campgrounds and serves some 30,000 members and 52 million skinny dipping enthusiasts throughout the U.S., Canada, and internationally. For more information about AANR, to interview a spokesperson, and for facts related to nude recreation, please visit www.aanr.com or call 1-800-TRY-NUDE (879-6833).

Contacts:

Jeffrey Baldasarre, Director of Marketing & Communication

AANR

800/879-6833

JBaldasarre@aanr.com

and

Mary Jane Kolassa, AANR Public Relations Consultant

407/463-0040

MJKolassa@gmail.com