The evolution of women’s rights in America has brought many uplifting changes in the day-to-day life of women. One in particular – the bra.

Jane Farrell-Beck, university professor of textiles and clothing, is the co-author of “Uplift: The Bra in America,” a book about the bra’s evolution and its relation to the social history of women.

“It’s first and foremost a profile of the brassiere business,” said Farrell-Beck, who was a contributor for the textbook, “The History of Costume: From Ancient Mesopotamia through the Twentieth Century.”

Her research found that a woman created the first bra-like product in the 1870s, though at the time it resembled a camisole rather than today’s bra, she said.

Farrell-Beck found that many brassiere companies throughout its history have had women behind the production.

The book, which was released Nov. 8, not only documents the business behind the brassiere’s development, but it conveys the relationship between the bra’s evolution and women’s social past.

“[The book] would be interesting for a women’s history course,” Farrell-Beck said, though it was written to be used as scholarly reading rather than a textbook.

Farrell-Beck said the 1920s was the first time the brassiere was used to support and shape the chest.

In the beginning of the decade, flat and bound chests were the fad, but the bra then began to change into a device to shape and to flatter the style of dress in that decade.

The book covers the history of brassieres up to the present-day bra fashions, Farrell-Beck said.

Colleen Gau, a registered nurse, used her expertise in medical research of the brassiere’s history to help co-author the book, Farrell-Beck said.

Diana Shonrock, associate professor at Parks Library, was a research assistant for the two authors.

Gau performed a study for “Uplift” using ISU students who volunteered to walk on a treadmill wearing a corset while Gau monitored their lung capacity, Shonrock said.

“Uplift” took Farrell-Beck and Gau two years to write, Farrell-Beck said, but they spent a total of seven and half years working on the book.

The idea for “Uplift” came to mind by accident.

“I never set out to do this,” Farrell-Beck said.

She originally was studying scoliosis and back braces when it led her to the history of bras, which she said wasn’t very well known.

Since Farrell-Beck began her research in the spring of 1994, she said she has been fascinated with the evolution of bras “because it branches off into a lot of other things.”

Her next project, she said, is to interview those who do the fitting for brassieres, and she may be writing follow-up articles on the subject.

Farrell-Beck and Gau hope to have a book signing at Parks Library sometime in January.

Shonrock, who helped find sources for the book, said she is in the process of reading it. She’s on chapter three.

“There are things you just don’t know about those nice, soft, white things we wear now,” she said.

“They weren’t always that way.”

Shonrock said the book is available at Parks Library.

“I just think students would enjoy it in general,” she said. “Especially women. I can’t imagine a woman reading this and not laughing at some parts.”