Alice Austen (1866-1952) was a prolific photographer who documented rapid changes in the bustling metropolis she called home: New York City.
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Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know -- but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Leading Ladies, Activists, STEMinists, Local Legends, and many more. Encyclopedia Womannica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
Happy December! A new month means it’s time for a brand new theme. As many of us travel physically or virtually to be with family and friends this holiday season, we’ve decided to highlight Local Legends, women who had a major impact on their hometowns and left legacies extending well beyond.
Today’s local legend was a prolific photographer who documented rapid changes in the bustling metropolis she called home: New York City. She challenged the very rigid social norms of the Victorian Era through her life and work, and used her keen eye to capture in stills the great movements reshaping the world around her. Meet Alice Austen.
Elizabeth Alice Munn was born on March 17, 1866, in New York, to Alice Cornell Austen and Edward Stopford Munn. Her family was wealthy, but her early years were not without drama. Her father left the family around 1869 and for the rest of her life, Alice chose to use her mother’s maiden last name.
After her father’s departure, Alice and her mother moved into a cottage on Staten Island called Clear Comfort. The house would serve as Alice’s home for the majority of her life.
When Alice was 10 years old, her uncle, a man named Oswold, brought her a present back from a trip to Germany that would change her life forever: a camera. Another uncle, this one a chemist, taught her how to develop photographs.
Alice had found her passion. Today when most of us have camera-phones readily available in our pockets, it’s hard to imagine the complicated ordeal that was photography in the late 19th century.
Alice experimented with the equipment, exposure times, and development techniques, taking detailed notes to make adjustments for improvement. She used a closet on the second floor of the house as a darkroom.
Alice practiced non-stop, photographing her family and friends at home, on mountainous and beach-side excursions, at sporting events, at celebratory gatherings, and more. By the age of 18, Alice’s mastery of the medium was evident. She would continue to take photos almost daily for five decades. Her photographs give a real sense of a bygone era, a time of great optimism around technological innovation. When a friend of hers, Violet Ward, wrote a book entitled Bicycling for Ladies, Alice took photos of another friend modeling proper bike technique.
She utilized her skills outside of her social circle, too, providing insight into the world of Victorian New York City. She photographed fishmongers, street sweepers, shoe shiners, and all the typical characters of New York City’s hustle and bustle. Her work was highly atypical of women at that time.
In the early 1890s, Alice began documenting immigrant quarantine sites in New York City. A huge number of immigrants -- 500,000 a year -- came through Ellis Island during that period. Before the immigrants could move beyond, authorities required that they quarantine just south of where Alice lived. She was asked to take photos of the Quarantine Stations by the U.S. Public Health Service. She was drawn in by the facilities and people inhabiting them, and came back to photograph the people there every year for a decade.
In the 1890s, Alice also took photos beyond her home city, traveling the East Coast of the U.S. and through Europe practicing her craft.
Then in 1899, Alice met the person who would become her lifelong partner, Gertrude Tate. Alice was on a trip to the Catskills. Gertrude, a Brooklyn resident, was there too, recovering from typhoid. The two spent the summer together. When they returned to New York City, Alice and Gertrude continued to spend weekends together and became travel companions. Then in 1917, Gertrude moved into Clear Comfort, Alice’s cottage.
In her relationship, as with her work, Alice strayed from the strict norms of Victorian society. The couple’s families disapproved. Still, they lived happily for quite some time, a period captured in Alice’s photographs.
Then in 1929, Alice and Gertrude came on hard times. When the stock market crashed, Alice lost her money and therefore her ability to support their lives as a couple. Alice was sent to the Staten Island Farm Colony, a home for the poor. Gertrude visited weekly. Alice lived there until 1951 when a historian found her photos, sold them, and used the money to move Alice to a private nursing home.
Alice died the following year on June 9th, 1952. She was 86 years old. Alice and Gertrude instructed their families to bury them together. The families did not do so.
Today, Alice and Gertrude’s home, Clear Comfort, is the Alice Austen House Museum. The U.S. National Park Service has designated it a national site of LGBTQ history.
Alice Austen helped develop and popularize documentary photography. She captured her private world and the broader, rapidly changing society in which she lived. She did so while refusing to acquiesce to restrictive, misogynistic, homophobic rules of the day.
All month, we’re talking about Local Legends. For more on why we’re doing what we’re doing, check out our newsletter, Womannica Weekly. Find us on facebook and instagram @encyclopediawomannica. You can also find me on twitter @ jennymkaplan.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!