My Dear Alice

Pamela Bannos
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19th century New York photographer Alice Austen’s life story through letters returned to her home decades after her death. The letters are a portal to photographic, women’s, and LGBTQ history.

Episodes

  1. EPISODE 1

    Chapter 1: Introductions

    Chapter 1: Introductions (the story / the house / the characters / the letters) Image attributions: (HRT) Historic Richmond Town archive; (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. Letter album at Historic Richmond Town Archive Album of 1830s through 1870s letters written by Sarah Ann & John Haggerty Austen Sarah Ann Austen Townsend in 1832 John Haggerty Austen’s 17-yr-old sister. Portrait, courtesy of the Frick Art Reference Library. (AI colorized) Alice’s grandmother, Elizabeth Alice Townsend Austen Alice Austen’s maternal grandmother, painted circa 1840 (HRT) David Austen Alice Austen’s paternal great-grandfather, painted in 1846 (HRT) Alice Cornell Townsend Alice Austen’s maternal great-grandmother, circa 1835. (HRT) Alice’s Book circa 1877 Book given to a friend by Alice Austen as she was leaving her home. Returned to Clear Comfort decades later. (AAH) Peter Townsend Alice Austen’s maternal great-grandfather, painted circa 1840 (HRT) 1870 painting of Clear Comfort circa 1870 painting by William Hart (HRT) 3 year old Alice Austen in 1869 Studio portrait re-photographed by Alice Austen in the 1890s (HRT) 1883 letter from Auntie Min Minnie Austen Hicks Miller letter from Hong Kong – earliest letter in the collection. (AAH) 1884 envelope from Brooklyn Envelope for Bessie Hazard’s letter – a fragment of it showing a child’s scribbling from decades later. (AAH) 1884 letter fragment with more recent scribbles Evidence of the Mandia family’s children’s interactions with the letters they kept for 40 years. (AAH) Clear Comfort in 1885 19-year-old Alice Austen on  the house’s piazza (AAH) Julia & Alice at 19 in 1885 Julia Martin and Alice Austen with Chico & Punch (AAH) Auntie Min, Uncle Peter & Alice in 1885 19-year-old Alice with her aunt and uncle (AAH) 1885: Alice and Her Friends Alice (far left) and Trude Eccleston (2nd from left) and friends in their bathing suits at Clear Comfort. (HRT) 1887: View from Clear Comfort’s front lawn View of the Narrows from Clear Comfort’s front lawn. (AAH) 2021 View from Clear Comfort’s front lawn A cruise ship passes by Clear Comfort in 2018. Photograph by Pamela Bannos. Chico & Punch in 1887 Chico the chihuahua and Punch the pug on Clear Comfort’s piazza (AAH) 1887 Scrapbook page An article about Clear Comfort in one of Alice Austen’s scrapbooks (AAH) Aunt Min, Uncle Oswald & Alice Austen 18-year-old Alice with Aunt Min & her husband Uncle Oswald (AAH) Elizabeth Alice Townsend Austen Alice Austen’s grandmother in 1885 (AAH) Alice Austen in 1887 Dunn studio portrait taken in New Brunswick, New Jersey. (AAH) Minnie Austen Hicks Miller Alice Austen’s Auntie Minn, circa 1885 (AAH) 1888 Tennis Group Alice in tie, middle in bottom row. Trude Eccleston, 2nd from left top row. (HRT) Contemporary panoramic view of Clear Comfort Photograph by Pamela Bannos. PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Opening music… [Bessie Strong] 1885, July 19, New Brunswick: My dear Alice – Perhaps when you discover that this letter was written on Sunday, you will hesitate about reading it. New Brunswickers are never troubled with such compunctions, but with Staten Island people it may be different.           You began your letter with a slurring remark about our “metropolis” or rather our weather, which was unjust, and words cannot describe the pain it caused me. However, I will try to forget and forgive.           Have you heard the song “Forget, Forgive” by the same composer as “Some Day”? [Narrator] This is one letter among hundreds that were sent to 19th century photographer Alice Austen. I’m Pamela Bannos, in collaboration with the Alice Austen House Museum, and this is My Dear Alice, a podcast series that explores the life of photographer Alice Austen through her photographs and these letters that were discovered decades after her death. Here, we will piece together Austen’s story through her extensive photographic legacy, while filling in new details through these rediscovered letters that were sent to her historic home, called Clear Comfort. +++++++ [Narrator] This is a story of home, history, celebration, and reclamation. Clear Comfort, now known as the Alice Austen House Museum, sits on the bank of the Narrows with a sweeping view of the Manhattan skyline. Passing through this narrow channel that separates Staten Island from Brooklyn, and known as the gateway to New York City and America, generations of immigrants would see Alice Austen’s house before they spotted the Statue of Liberty on their way to Ellis Island. Dating back to pre-Revolutionary days, this modest cottage remains a sentry to our changing world. Groundbreaking nineteenth-century Staten Island photographer Elizabeth Alice Austen – known formally as E. Alice Austen, and familiarly as simply Alice – lived at Clear Comfort from around the time of her birth in 1866 until she was evicted in 1945. It was a chaotic exit as friends and members of the Staten Island Historical Society rushed to rescue Austen’s photographs, negatives, and what was left of value in the once antique-packed home. In her haste, Austen had sold everything for a few hundred dollars to a furniture dealer who soon arrived to empty out the rest of the house. In 1985, forty years after the Mandia family had moved into Clear Comfort – they stayed for 20 years – a family member returned with four boxes of letters that had been found in a closet. The interim witnessed the decline and resurrection of the crumbling and neglected house. Using Austen’s own photographs from the 1890s, Clear Comfort was renovated to its appearance when the correspondences first arrived. Spanning fifteen years, and dating from 1883 to 1898, the hundreds of letters sent to Alice Austen, and then returned to Clear Comfort, form a chronicle of what would otherwise have been lost to time. +++++++ [Narrator] Alice Austen’s grandfather, John Haggerty Austen, bought the cottage that came to be known as Clear Comfort in 1844, during a time when Staten Island was a bucolic escape from New York City. His family was still living in the row of four houses that his father had built facing Union Square Park, 4 years earlier, just at the completion of the park. The entire extended Austen family had recently moved north from their home on the Bowling Green, maintaining as green a view as was then feasible in the expanding city. The Austen men were wealthy auctioneers, and as a young merchant in the early 1830s, John Austen traveled to Europe where his teenage sister Sarah Ann wrote him letters, neatly folded, sealed with red wax, and delivered by packet ship. [Sarah Ann Austen] New York, April 25, 1833 My Dear Brother – We have just been with you through Venice and all your wanderings, as Pa and myself have just received your letter dated Milan 22nd February. I have been a little disappointed that you have not spoken of Italy in more rapturous terms. We were much amused with your descriptions of the Carnival, then we did laugh to think of John Austen falling in love with whole balconies of ladies.           Mr & Madame Berteau take their departure for France the 10th of May, and then I take my final leave of school and all its perplexities. Mr & Mrs Sheldon and family also sail in a few days for England. It really, though, seems too bad to leave this delightful Battery and Bowling Green, you have no idea how charming it is here. The weather is delightful, the grass all around us looking so neat and green; and the trees of the same delicate hue, or white with blossoms; then add to this a gay ride on horseback, which I take often.           Though it is almost impossible to ride out without meeting some of your friends, it is astonishing to see what an immense number of ladies pursue this exercise to what they did formerly. Billy, my horse, looks elegant, and never went better in his life. Now I must tell you how spruce I look when I am mounted. I support a handsome beaver with a low crown, the rim 3 inches wide in front, and narrow behind. They are the precise thing for tiding, added to which a very handsome habit.           I miss you much, as my beau David is not so willing to be accommodating and take out of the way roads. As you know, his horse would not be seen there. [Narrator] That was an excerpt from the 14th letter of 30 that Sarah Ann sent John Haggerty Austen as he traveled through Europe from 1832 through 1834. You can see an 1832 portrait of Sarah Ann on this podcast’s website – representing her as she appeared at the time of her letter. This letter, bound together with many others, including from John Austen to his wife Elizabeth, currently resides within a hulking brick building that was once a Staten Island schoolhouse, and is now the Historic Richmond Town Archive. The letters and the Austen family history reveal a distant period in New York history and connect with a broader story that brings us here to the present. +++++++ [Narrator] In 1835, Sarah Ann Austen married William Townsend; the following year her brother John married William’s sister Elizabeth; and ten days later, Mary Austen, another sister, married Isaac, a third Townsend sibling. This growing and intertwined family remained close, even after they left their adjoining homes facing Union Square. Sarah Ann, William, and their four children were the first to relocate to Staten Island. It was 1848 and John was still using his cottage as a getaway while also modifying and expanding the house for his growing family. By 1852, he had moved them there for good. John’s wife, Alice Austen’s grandmother, Elizabeth Alice Townsend Austen, named the cottage Clear Comfort. Alice Au

    39 min

  2. EPISODE 2

    Chapter 2: 1880s Recreation

    Chapter 2: 1880s Recreation (tennis-mania & summer resorts) Image attributions: (HRT) Historic Richmond Town archive; (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 22-year-old Alice Austen in 1888 1888 portrait by Austen’s Uncle Oswald Muller. (HRT) Bradish Carroll letter The opening letter from this episode. Bradish Carroll danced the Santiago Waltz with Alice – it is the music from which this podcast theme music was derived. (AAH) 1888 Tennis Group Carrie Ward (top row, left); Nellie Janssen (top row, right); and Bradish Carroll (seated with cane.) (HRT) 1888 Dance Card Dance card showing Alice danced the Santiago Waltz with Bradish Carroll. (AAH) Emily Babbitt & Lieutenant Edwin Babbitt Alice’s tennis doubles partner with his wife, who wrote Alice congratulating her on winning her tennis match. (AAH) 1888 letter from Emily Babbitt Fragment from letter from Emily Babbitt, as part of this chapter’s narrative. (AAH) 1889 Costume Party at a Catskills summer resort Alice & Trude Eccleston dressed as  nuns, advertising Pear’s Soap. Charlie Barton seated in military costume. (HRT) 1889 Catskill costume party detail Detail showing Alice & Trude Eccleston dressed as nuns, with Charlie Barton on the floor. (HRT) 1889 in Costume (HRT) 1888 Staten Island’s best women tennis players Published in Outing Magazine, Alice Austen is standing at far right in the top row. (AAH) 1885 Katie with Punch & Chico Alice Cornell Austen often wrote of Katie, the Austens’ live-in helper who, among other duties,  tended to the dogs. (HRT) Alice Cornell Austen (Alice’s mother) in 1887 Alice Cornell Austen with Tristan, the cat. (HRT) 1887 scrapbook page Alice’s scrapbook showing 1887 & 1888 tennis news, obituaries, and other items. (AAH) 1887 scrapbook page detail Detail showing Alice’s tennis results, her grandmother’s obituary, and her aunt Mary Austen’s obituary. (AAH) Tennis Club receipts Facing pages showing membership receipts for the Staten Island Ladies Club & the SI neighborhood club, Ladies Tennis Club of Clifton. (HRT) 1888 Tennis Group The photo Nellie Janssen asked for – she is seated at top right. Bradish Carroll is at middle left with striped beanie. (HRT) 1888 scrapbook item Badge to attend the 1888 tennis matches. (AAH) Lake Mahopac, 1888 Lake Mahopac, where Alice joined Trude Eccleston in the summer of 1888. (HRT) Lake Mahopac today Lake Mahopac in 2022. Photograph by Pamela Bannos. 1888 letter from Effie Emmons Fragment from letter from Cushings Island, Maine, as part of this chapter’s narrative. (AAH) 1889 the Ward family Violet Ward (standing, looking right), Carrie Ward (seated far right) and their father, a Civil War general, standing with bugle. (HRT) 1889 Tennis Group Group photo showing several of Alice’s correspondents. (HRT) 1889 Bessie Strong Detail from group showing Bessie Strong. (HRT) 1889 Charlie Barton Detail from group showing Charlie Barton. (HRT) 1889 Effie Emmons Detail from group showing Effie Emmons. (HRT) 1889 Lou Alexander Detail from group showing Lou Alexander. (HRT) 1889 Trude Eccleston Detail from the group showing Trude Eccleston. (HRT) 1888 scrapbook item Clipped cartoon in Austen’s 1888 scrapbook. (AAH) 1888 Alice with Trude’s family at Lake Mahopac Alice at far right; Trude Eccleston seated with Charlie Barton at her feet. (HRT) 1889 Catskills Group at creek in Catskills. Trude Eccleston at far left. From photo album with title, “The Creek.” (HRT) PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Opening: [Bradish J Carroll] My Dear Miss Austen,           I have to thank you very much indeed for giving me one of those prints of the tennis match, as I particularly wanted it. I found it at home when I got down from the City today. Had I known it was on the way this morning when I met you on the Boat, I most certainly would have thanked you in person.           I am going to frame all of them and hang them in my room so as to keep those pleasant days fresh in my mind. Hoping to have the good fortune to meet you soon at some of the dances.           Believe me, Most sincerely yours, Bradish J Carroll +++++++ [Narrator] Mr. Carroll’s mention of meeting Alice Austen at some of the dances ties in with a notable item in Austen’s archive. One of her scrapbook’s dance cards (detailing an evening’s music by song, dance style, and with the penciled name of each dance partner) shows Austen danced the Santiago Waltz with Bradish Carroll in early 1889. It is the melody from which this podcast theme music was derived. I’m Pamela Bannos, in collaboration with the Alice Austen House Museum, and this is My Dear Alice, a podcast series that explores the life of photographer Alice Austen through her photographs and these letters that were discovered decades after her death. Here, we will piece together Austen’s story through her extensive photographic legacy, while filling in new details through these rediscovered letters that were sent to her historic home called Clear Comfort. +++++++ [Narrator] Chapter 2 Among the earliest letters in the boxes that were returned to Clear Comfort (now the Alice Austen House Museum), voices emerge that reveal Alice’s athletic and photographic prowess. In particular, her love of tennis crosses over into her photography, and this sometimes helps illustrate the letters. Word of Alice’s photographs spread, and not long after she received Bradish Carroll’s letter, his opponent in that mixed doubles match inquired about the photos taken on the steps of the Ladies Clubhouse that same day: [Nellie Janssen] My dear Miss Austin,           Do you remember the time when you took a group photo of us all at the Club House at the end of the Open tournaments? I have seen Brad Carroll’s & as they are all so good, wouldn’t it be possible for me to buy one? The group where I am sitting down is the particular one, I want. You know what I mean?           Just send me a line as to how much it will be, and I will send it to you. I hate to trouble you Dear Miss Austen, but if it inconveniences you too much, don’t mind about it. Sincerely always, Nellie Janssen [Narrator] The group photos show an assortment of well-dressed tennis players with a clarity that makes them seem contemporary, except for the women’s long skirts and fancy hats, and the men’s dandyish outfits replete with derbies and canes. Although the men seem to have changed out of their striped tennis outfits, the women played the matches that Alice photographed that day in the long dresses they’re pictured wearing in the group shot. America’s first national tennis tournament was held on Staten Island at the Cricket Club in 1880, just a few years after Mary Outerbridge is credited with setting up the first court there with equipment she had brought back with her from Bermuda. The game became so popular that multiple tennis clubs had formed throughout the Island, and the surrounding New York area. Like others on Staten Island who had the space, Alice laid out a tennis court on the north lawn of Clear Comfort. And she photographed groups of her friends with their rackets and in their sporty clothes – the women’s which hardly seem conducive to moving around at all, although the corsets don’t appear to be as tight as those that Auntie Min wore. Eventually, women removed their corsets and wore skirts with tight belts and shirt waists – but which still kept them covered down to their wrists and ankles. Alice got in on the local craze as a young girl, earning the nickname “Ping” from her Auntie Min. Along with newspaper articles, Alice’s penciled notes detail the highlights of her competitive play. She states that she first played in a tournament in 1881 when she was 15. Two years later she won the mixed-doubles championship of the Clifton Ladies Club, which hosted the games. She also mentions that in 1884 she won the Champion Prize Pin for winning three years in a row; and in 1885, she and her mixed doubles partner won both the doubles & singles tournaments at the Clifton Ladies Club. +++++++ [Narrator] There’s a surprisingly thorough record of local sporting and social events in the New York area newspapers of the time, and this is also reflected in Alice’s letters. Here’s Bessie Strong after that 1885 tournament: [Bessie Strong] My dear Alice: –           I purposely waited until after your tennis tournament should be over before writing to you, hoping that you would afford me an opportunity for congratulating you on a glorious victory. I have been searching the paper each morning for news of you and was highly delighted when I saw you had beaten two of your opponents. But yesterday news was not what I wanted to see, and now it is my painful duty to condole with you.           Your name has been appearing in print a great deal lately, my dear. So far I have heard nothing dreadful of you. [Narrator] A couple years later, Emily Babbitt, wife of Alice’s one-time doubles partner, Lieutenant Edwin Babbitt, wrote from Fort Monroe, in Virginia: [Emily Babbitt] Hurrah for you my dear Alice!           I wish I had been there to see you win the tournament. When I saw by the paper that the finals lay between Miss Williams and you, I fairly trembled knowing what an excellent player she is. But I am delighted that you are the victor and I congratulate you. You must have played a beautiful game to beat her and it is a good thing for the club that there was one who could defend at least one prize. I would have hated to have all the prizes taken to the other side of the island.           Mr. Babbitt sends all sorts of congratulatory message

    34 min

  3. EPISODE 3

    Chapter 3: 1890 & 1891 - Enigmatic Portraits

    Chapter 3: 1890 & 1891 (Enigmatic Portraits: musings on the past and the things we leave behind) Image attributions: (HRT) Historic Richmond Town archive; (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 1887 Bessie Strong & Alice Austen Bessie Strong lived in New Brunswick, New Jersey. (HRT) (see notes) 1890 Alice and Julie Bredt Julie and Alice at Clear Comfort on Hallooween, 1890 (HRT) c. 1890 Julia Martin (right) & the Sibleys at Clear Comfort’s piazza Julia Martin (right) wrote the most letters in the collection – 87. (HRT) 1887 Alice Cornell Austen with Tristan Alice’s mother with their cat, Tristan, perhaps named for a character from the opera she saw as in this episode’s narrative. (HRT) 1890 letter from Alice’s mother Alice Cornell Austen tells of the opera Tristan & Isolde. (AAH) Metropolitan Opera season tickets Theatre & concert tickets that Alice saved and donated to the Staten Island Historical Society at her eviction from Clear Comfort. (HRT) 1888 Emily Denning Van Rensselaer & her daughter Emmie Emily, Emmie, and their dog Beauty – referenced in a letter from Jane Denning in this episode. (HRT) 1888 Denning’s Point The Denning sisters family home Presqu’ile stood on this peninsula  on the Hudson River. (AAH) Denning’s Point today. July 2022. Photograph by Pamela Bannos. 1888 Presq’uile (home at Denning’s Point) Jane Louise Denning and sister Emily Denning Van Rensselaer’s house at Fishkill on Hudson. (AAH) 1888 Presqu’ile interior Alice made many photographs of this house and its grounds. (AAH) 1890 nighttime bloom of the cereus plant Captured with flash, this group gathered to witness the flower that blooms once a year, at night. (HRT) 1890 Simpkins family, Bennington VT Alice, Mrs. Snively, Mary Sanford & others at a village fair. (HRT) 1890: Mrs. Snively & Mary Sanford Mary Sanford and her partner Helen Stokes would become part of the early socialist movement in Greenwich Village (see notes for this chapter.) (HRT) 1890: Mrs. Snively, Julia Martin, and Alice Alice spent part of the summer with Julia and Mrs. Snively in Bennington, Vermont. (HRT) Negative sleeve for the 3 women in bed. The envelope does not divulge the intention of this portrait. (AAH) 1890 letter from Alice’s mother Alice Cornell Austen borrowed her daughter’s tennis stationery. (AAH) 1891 Trude Eccleston & Mr. Gregg at Clear Comfort Only spoken of as Mr. Gregg, he and Trude were engaged, but did not marry. (HRT) 1890 letter from Trude Eccleston Trude tells of meeting Mr. Gregg. (AAH) 1891 Trude and Alice Alice titled the photo during this summer of dramatized photographs. (HRT) 1891 Trude & Alice Masked This enigmatic portrait was shot at 11pm on an August night. (HRT) Envelope for masked portrait Alice noted the portrait as “Trude & I masked, short skirts.” (AAH) (see notes)  1891 Trude & Alice in bed An enigmatic portrait, taken the same night as “Trude & I masked.” (HRT) (see notes) 1891 The Darned Club Alice, Trude Eccleston, Julia Lord, and Sue Ripley. (HRT) (see notes) PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Opening music … [Trude Eccleston] My dear Alice; You are quite the meanest girl I know. Why haven’t you written to me when I know you have lots more time for it than I have. I am pining and homesick for some news of Staten Island. Do write & tell your famishing friend all you can. It seems useless to say I am having a gorgeous time as I don’t see how anyone could help it down here. If this is not the place to turn a girl’s head in, “so help me gracious.” Last night I went on a moonlight sail – Oh it was scrumptious. Now Alice, do write me one letter before I leave here. Love to all inquiring friends & yourself. Ever your loving friend, Trudie +++++++ Theme Music … [Narrator] I’m Pamela Bannos, in collaboration with the Alice Austen House Museum, and this is My Dear Alice, a podcast series that explores the life of photographer Alice Austen through her photographs and these letters that were discovered decades after her death. You’ll find images of some of these letters, along with photographs referred to here, at the website that accompanies this podcast. Chapter 3: It’s tricky to tell Alice Austen’s story through the letters she received because basically everyone is always asking Alice to join them or they are thanking her for sending them a photo or are relaying the time they’re having while they’re away from her. So we don’t exactly know what happens when they’re together unless Alice photographs the gathering – but which she does mostly seem to do. And yet, like any archive, we only know about what is there, not so much about what is missing. Just as there are gaps in these letters that were returned to Clear Comfort forty years after they were found in a closet there, from the thoroughness of Austen’s photography, it seems certain that there should be more pictures. And even so, Alice is mostly behind the camera, and when she’s in the picture, she is sphynx-like, her expression, deadpan. In the handful of images where she is smiling or laughing, it is because someone is provoking her and she’s having trouble containing herself. My guess is that her own letters have a dry or wry humor. At any rate, the collection of letters residing at today’s Alice Austen House Museum, where they were sent in the first place, do reveal more about the correspondent, even as they also help illustrate Alice’s relationship with each of them. Here’s Julie Bredt in January 1890, asking Alice to visit her in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where there are going to be numerous gatherings – things are always fun with Julie Bredt: [Julie Bredt] O! I am so glad you can come. Yes, I will expect you on the train that gets here at 4 on Friday the 24th, rain or shine. On the 31st, the boys had promised an Assembly & Saturday a tea, so please remember you will not be home before that. [Narrator] For whatever reason, Alice didn’t respond, so Julie wrote again: [Julie Bredt] My dear Alice, This is an extra letter, but I am going to ask you if you won’t come and stay a week or so with me. Now please say yes. I want you to come on the 24th on the 12:20 train. I hope that it will be jolly. There is to be an assembly, I hope, and I expect to have a little dance on the 24th. We are bound to have fun, for there is a card party Thursday and a Tea and another card party. So be sure and come and bring two or three party dresses. Be sure and let me know right away, tomorrow if you can. But please come Alice dear, as I want you so much and Lent comes in February and there will be no more fun, until about June. So, you must come; it is not far and I have set my heart on you As breakfast is ready, I must say good bye. In haste, Julie Bredt Be sure and let me know as soon as possible. [Narrator] Alice did go to Bethlehem, joining Julie at her party – and letters to her followed. She apparently wrote home letting her mother know of her arrival, and immediately received a reply, filling in on the doings of the previous three days. [Alice Cornell Austen] Well, on Saturday I went to town, got the feather trimming, pocket comb, and stockings, of which there were only two pairs left, which were found after a long search, they said at first all were gone. I had a great struggle at Mary’s for lunch first to get my order taken, then to have it filled, then waiting for change. I got quite wild and could not get into the street until a quarter to two. I was afraid I would be late at the Opera – but as I climbed the first stairs, I heard the first sound of the Orchestra. It was a magnificent performance in every respect. There is no chorus in ‘Tristan,’ and no overture, but a long orchestral prelude before each act. I never heard such tremendous waves of sound, the orchestra seemed like one great instrument, the scenery very good, especially the moonlit garden of the love scene. The enormous audience shouted & stamped till worn out, the curtain was raised 3 times after the first act, and three times the singers came before the Curtain. Trudie & Edith were there. It was not over until 5 minutes to six, all but four hours. I got the book for you. Take care of yourself my dearest Babe, and give my kind regards to Mrs Bredt. From, Your Mama [Narrator] And then she heard from Trudie, who also spoke of the opera but didn’t mention seeing anyone. Alice had a subscription to New York’s Metropolitan Opera for many years – the season’s tickets are in her scrapbooks. [Trude Eccleston] I suppose you will be on hand for the opera this Saturday, will you not? Effie Emmons is going to have an at homes these next two Saturdays and I believe she is going to ask you to pour tea for her this Saturday. She asked me your address & I told her I would give it to her if she would come to the house, & I also told her that we had an Opera every Saturday and that I should not be able to come to her teas, which of course made her feel very sad. “Tristan & Isolde” was simply magnif & I did wish you could have seen it. Last Saturday you did not miss anything as it was a repetition of the “Barber etc,” I did not go as I was sick & did not care enough about it to make the effort. There is nothing going on down here this week strange to relate. I shall be away having some clothes fixed up, I must have a pink dress for the last Assembly on the 13th. Now then Alice, remember me to Miss Bredt and with lots of love for yourself. I remain as ever your loving friend. Trude Eccleston [Narrator] In mid-April, Trudie went with her sister Edith’s family to Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, Utah, where her army Lieutenant brother-in-law was transferred. Alice photographed the fam

    30 min

  4. EPISODE 4

    Chapter 4: Relationships

    Chapter 4: 1891 & 1892 – Relationships (male interactions / hijinks with the ladies / queerness) Image attributions: (HRT) Historic Richmond Town archive; (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 1892 Alice Austen Alice Austen on Clear Comfort’s piazza in September 1892 (HRT) 1892 Julie Bredt Julie Bredt on Clear Comfort’s piazza in September 1892. (HRT) 1892 Trude Eccleston Trude Eccleston on Clear Comfort’s piazza in July 1892. (HRT) 1890 letter from Julie Bredt Julie Bredt did not favor punctuation. (AAH) 1891 Alice, Julia, and Julie (L-R) Alice Austen, Julia Martin, and Julie Bredt. (HRT) 1891 Alice, Julia and Julie (L-R) Alice Austen, Julia Martin, and Julie Bredt. (HRT) 1891 letter from Mr. Gilman Letter from Henry K. Gilman, as presented in this episode. (AAH) 1890 Ward family’s wagonette Violet Ward, standing at back; Carrie Ward, middle seated, at the front of Oneata.  (HRT) 1891 Richmond Valley Woods picnic (L-R) Trude Eccleston, Violet and Carrie Ward, Miss Jenkins. (HRT) 1891 Party on the steps of the wagonette (L-R) Violet Ward, Trude Eccleston, Miss Jenkins, Carrie Ward. (HRT) 1892 Alice Austen, Julie Bredt, and Trude Eccleston Studio portrait by Staten Island photographer, Isaac Almstaedt. (HRT) 1892 February 14 gathering with Julie Bredt Valentine’s Day gathering. Julie Bredt, third from left; Alice Austen, far right. (HRT) 1892 February 20 gathering with Julie Bredt Tea party at Bethlehem, PA. Julie Bredt pouring tea; Alice Austen, second from right. (HRT) 1892 February 21 gathering with Julie Bredt A rare smile from Alice Austen, second from right; Julie Bredt to her right. (HRT) 1892 February 22 gathering with Julie Bredt Alice Austen, seated far right; Julie Bredt, standing center. Bethlehem, PA. (HRT) 1892 letter from Julie Bredt Julie Bredt appreciating Alice’s photos of their gathering. (AAH) 1892 Nellie Austen with her children and their nanny Alice’s Uncle Peter’s wife Nellie Austen, with their children William, Lysbeth, and Oswald, and their nanny Miss Butler. (HRT) 1892 letter from Julia Martin Julia Martin introducing “the two Marys.” (AAH) The Two Marys “The two Marys” grave in Lucerne, Switzerland. (see notes) (photo credit: Philipp Lustenberger) 1892 envelope from Henry K. Gilman Letter sent from Flushing, NY, to Clear Comfort; forwarded to Alice at her Uncle Peter’s house in New Brunswick, New Jersey. (AAH) 1892 Concord, Massachusetts Nellie Austen with her Uncle Alfred Munroe on the Assabet River in Concord, MA. (HRT) 1892 letter from Trude Excerpt from Trude Eccleston letter, referring to Mr. Gregg, to whom she was to become engaged. (AAH) 1892 Watkins Glen, NY Exquisite landscape photograph by Alice Austen. (HRT) 1892 Watkins Glen Sanitarium, Mr. Hopper Titled, “A lunch at the ‘San,'”Mr. Hopper & Alice Austen pour each other a drink. (HRT) 1892 a rare smile from Alice Austen Mr. Hopper opens a bottle of wine. (HRT) Trude & Mr. Hopper approaching 1892 dramatization at Watkins, NY. Tombstone Trude & Mr Hopper “yes” 1892 dramatization at Watkins, NY. Tombstone Myself & Mr Hopper approaching 1892 dramatization at Watkins, NY. Myself & Mr Hopper “yes” 1892 dramatization at Watkins, NY. Trude Ec. & Mr Hopper “No” 1892 dramatization at Watkins, NY. Tombstone Trude Ec. Mr Hopper & self 1892 dramatization at Watkins, NY. 1892 letter from Mr. Hopper Sent from the Springs at Watkins, NY – as presented in this episode. (AAH) 1892 John Coates Browne Alice accompanied noted amateur photographer Browne on a nature walk – his correspondences offered her photographic advice. (HRT) PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Opening music … [Henry K. Gilman] Dear Miss Austen. I enclose a few stamps which I have collected for you. Perhaps some of them will be new ones to your collection. The reception at the “Players” is to be on Friday, April 22nd and not Saturday as I thought. When I come down next Tuesday, I will bring the tickets, which I truly hope you and your mother will find agreeable to use. As always, yours, Henry K. Gilman Theme music … [Narrator] I’m Pamela Bannos, in collaboration with the Alice Austen House Museum, and this is My Dear Alice, a podcast series that explores the life of photographer Alice Austen through her photographs and these letters that were discovered decades after her death. You’ll find images of some of these letters, along with photographs referred to here, at the website that accompanies this podcast. Chapter 4: We left off with a litany of glimpses into the parties, dances, and fashion as conveyed by the three main correspondents of 1890 and 1891: Julie Bredt, Julia Martin, and Bessie Strong, who relayed their doings from beyond Staten Island’s social scene. The letters also show how relationships may or may not be different from today. Inexplicably, we last heard from Henry K Gilman in 1889. He is the gentleman who wrote from the Players Club in Gramercy Park and was disappointed when Alice chose her tennis tournament over his suggestion to go on some kind of wild spree. In his last letter, he had asked for directions to visit her at Clear Comfort. It is unclear why his next letter shows up nearly two years later – they don’t appear to know each other much better. Alice had just weeks earlier been making enigmatic double-portraits with Trude Eccleston, had since been at Bayhead, and was now vacationing at Lake Mahopac with Trudie’s family. [Henry K. Gilman] Dear Miss Austen – Many thanks for your little note received this evening. Howard showed me today the photos he took on the sailing party – they are amusing and some of the likenesses of your back & hair are very good, but unfortunately there is none of your face by which you could possibly be recognized. I am promising myself the pleasure of seeing the ones you took as soon as you will let me come to see you – I can come almost any evening next week so far as I now know. I went to Bayhead again last Saturday and succeeded in getting in three sea baths, notwithstanding the rain, which made things rather moist for a while in the PM Sunday. We are all going down tomorrow night to hear the Seidl orchestra at Madison Square Garden – & wish you could join us. It is about the only amusement of that kind I allow myself in these days. Won’t you suggest an evening next week when I can come down and make a call? – don’t say Monday or Saturday. As always. Truly yours. Henry K. Gilman [Narrator] That same day, Julie Bredt wrote Alice that a male friend of hers was interested in meeting Alice. [Julie Bredt] … he is an awfully nice fellow. Be sure & be nice to him, he has heard a lot about you and is quite anxious to meet you. [Narrator] Within days, Austen was in New Jersey photographing the light house and surroundings at Sandy Hook, busy with her camera as always. In the middle of October she set up two portraits of Julie Bredt, Julia Martin and herself dressed as men. All three wear suits, hats, and mustaches; and one of the pictures shows Austen in a rare smile. Two weeks later Alice composed The Darned Club photograph of the women who were said to have excluded men from their circle. And then, days later, she received this letter from Henry Gilman, in jarring contrast to all the fun and lightness that are apparent in her photographs. [Henry K. Gilman] Dear Miss Austen – I think a sight of you would help me to shake off a desperate attack of the blues which seems to have fastened their demoralizing clutches upon me, and I wish you would drop me a line to say which evening this week I shall find you disengaged – either Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. I am living at 103 Montague Street, Brooklyn now, and my evenings are free to the pitch of absolute loneliness. In fact, I feel like saying with our friend “Bunthorne” “Oh to be wafted away From this bleak of sorrow Where the dust of an earthy today Is the earth of a dusty tomorrow”        So do take pity on a poor, grubbing, desolate soul, and lay up for yourself treasures in Heaven by a charitable action – and experience the highest pleasure in life, by making another’s lot in life less dreary – [Narrator] That summer, Alice and Trude had been hanging out with Violet … [Violet Ward] Maria Emily McKnight Ward [Narrator] … and her sister Carrie [Carrie Ward] Caroline Constantia Ward [Narrator] The same day that Mr. Gilman wrote his heavy and dramatic letter, Alice was on a wild spree with Trudie, Violet and Carrie Ward, and another woman only noted as Miss Jenkins. The group had started out the day at the Ward’s estate in Tompkinsville where they, along with the Wards’ large dog and Alice’s camera equipment, loaded into the Ward family’s wagonette, an open carriage pulled by two horses. One of them led the horses, while in the back, the other four passengers faced each other on padded benches. The women ambled along the entire fifteen-mile length of Staten Island to the Richmond Valley woods at its southernmost tip, where they unpacked a picnic. In the first of two photographs, the women are seated in a semi-circle and Austen’s shadow is visible as she photographs with the sun behind her. In the second photo, noted as “Party on steps of wagonette,” Miss Jenkins pours herself a glass of wine; behind her Trudie drinks straight from the bottle; Carrie stands on the wheel axel, drinking from a tumbler, and Violet, looking drunk, leans jauntily on a bench at the back of the wagon. A few days after this fun outing, the infamous French actress Sarah Bernhardt arrived in New York City and Trudie and Alice went to see her. Then, together, they

    35 min

  5. EPISODE 5

    Chapter 5: 1892 & 1893 - On the Go

    Chapter 5: 1892 & 1893 – On the Go (photography / travel / athletics / dashed plans) Image attributions: (HRT) Historic Richmond Town archive; (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 1892 Bessie Strong & Jack Van Dyke Strong often mentions her cousin Jack Van Dyke, an art historian who taught at Rutgers University and gave public lectures to audiences upwards of 1,000 people. The emulsion peeled from the glass plate. (HRT) 1892 Mr. Hopper Photographed by Alice Austen at Watkins Glen, NY. (HRT) 1892 View from Clear Comfort with Violet & Trude Clear Comfort was visible to passing vessels, which Austen photographed for many decades. This image shows a camera on a tripod, a telescope, and Violet Ward & Trude Eccleston viewing the passing boats. (HRT) 1894 Camera Mosaics journal The journal published American Camera Club photographs. (AAH) 1894 Austen’s photos in the Camera Mosaics journal An uncharacteristic set of Austen’s photographs. (AAH) 1894 Austen’s photos in the Camera Mosaics journal Images from the 1892 canal trip and summer resorts. (AAH) 1891 letter from Violet Ward 1891 Letter from Bessie Strong Strong would sometimes obscure her own writing by writing over it, making for challenging transcription. (AAH) 1892 Letter from Ralph Munroe Munroe wrote from the yacht Wabun, filling in Alice on their activities since her departure. (AAH) 1892 Canal Trip aboard the yacht Wabun 1892 Butterball and Nellie Austen Aboard the yacht Wabun (HRT) 1892 view of the yacht Wabun Alice Austen print of scene from the canal trip.  (AAH) 1892 Canal trip Alice Austen blowing into a conch shell, earning her the nickname “Gabriel” the biblical horn blower. Austen nicknamed Thomas Brown (pictured in Harvard sweater) Butterball. (HRT) 1892 the yacht Wabun in a narrow passage 1893 Daisy Elliott at the Berkeley Ladies Athletic Club Daisy Elliott demonstrating an early athletic pose as described in the narrative. Carrie Ward on the mat at left, her sister Violet seated next to her. (HRT) 1893 Daisy Elliott & Violet Ward in the Berkeley Gymnasium Daisy Elliot hangs, demonstrating her athletic prowess. (HRT) 1893 Daisy Elliott and a group at the Berkeley Gymnasium Daisy Elliott on rings; Violet Ward holding football at left; Carrie Ward to right of Daisy. (HRT) 1893 Daisy Elliott 1893 Violet Ward 1893 Carrie Ward 1893 Violet Ward, Daisy Elliott, and Caroline Lawrence At the Berkeley Gymnasium.  (AAH) 1893 Alice Austen prepares to leave for Chicago’s Columbian Exposition Austen poses with her pug, Punch, at the front of Clear Comfort. (HRT) 1893 Ferris Wheel at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition A rare view of the Ferris Wheel. Austen stayed on campus at the University of Chicago, from which this photo appears to have been taken. (AAH) 1893 Statue of the Republic at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition Austen copyrighted 25 of her World’s Fair photographs. (HRT) 1893 Statue of Columbus at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition A very rare view of Chicago’s Lake Park (now Grant Park) and Columbus statue during the 1893 World’s Fair. (HRT) 1893 Alice Austen copyrighted photos from the Chicago World’s Fair Card from the U.S. Copyright Office. 1893 letter from Henry K. Gilman at The Players Club in Gramercy Park Gilman wrote to Austen at Chicago during the Columbian Exposition. (AAH) 1893 letter from Austen’s mother to Alice at Lake George She tells of a big storm that ravaged Clear Comfort – as presented in this episode. (AAH) 1893 Trude Eccleston and reflection at Lake George Austen posed Trude Eccleston to obscure her face with her hat, while reflecting it in the rock’s puddle. (HRT) 1893 Violet Ward’s Bodkin patent excerpt 1892 Poker game with Mr. Gilman (left), Julie Bredt, and G. Wildrick This is the only photo in the archive that shows Henry K. Gilman. (HRT) 1892 negative sleeve of Poker game with Henry Gilman & Julie Bredt Austen referred to Henry Gilman as Mr. Gilman, and she was Miss Austen to the end. (AAH) PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Opening music … [Bessie Strong] My Dear Alice,        “Many happy returns of the day” to you and St Patrick. With this I send you three photographs. Two of them I am quite ashamed of, but as I had no others ready and wanted them to go at once, I concluded to send them with an apology. I do not like them, but there has been no time since Monday to do any others. So please accept these with my love, and trust to getting some better specimens one of these days.        Have not heard from you in an age, but as I am becoming a poor correspondent myself, perhaps I had better not say much. Mother joins me in love and best wishes,        Always affectionately, Elisabeth B. Strong +++++++ [Narrator] I’m Pamela Bannos in collaboration with the Alice Austen House Museum, and this is My Dear Alice, a podcast series that explores the life of photographer Alice Austen through her photographs and these letters that were discovered decades after her death. You’ll find images of some of these letters, along with photographs referred to here at the website that accompanies this podcast. That’s My Dear Alice dot ORG. Chapter 5: In the early 1890s, when photography’s popularity mixed with festive parties and outdoor recreation and people began performing for the camera and joining camera clubs to share, exhibit, and win prizes for their efforts, several of Alice’s friends and acquaintances also shared her enthusiasm for the medium. But none of them had quite the passion – or by the evidence – the skill and talent that she had. Austen’s photos show a technical prowess and aesthetic sensibility that stand out, even among other published photographs of the time. In 1894, ten of her photos would appear in the journal, Camera Mosaics, billed as “A Portfolio of National Photography – a collection of Camera Club Photos.” There were no galleries or exhibition opportunities outside of the Camera Club exhibitions – Alice belonged to the Jersey City Camera Club and her Uncle Peter, a chemistry professor at Rutgers University, was the president of the New Brunswick Camera Club. Violet Ward is often holding a camera in Alice’s photos of her, and the loquacious Bessie Strong often shared her photographic escapades: [Bessie Strong] I wish you could see some of the photographs I took last Tuesday. Eleven in one afternoon. My “Rogues Gallery” is going to be a work of art. [Narrator] Here’s Julia Martin: [Julia Martin] I am awfully sorry my picture faded out. We thought it was a very good likeness. Mrs Snively would take very good photographs if she had the patience to wait for proper development; but she is in such a hurry, she never takes time and it is a wonder she gets any result at all. [Narrator] Earlier, Violet had written from Washington DC: [Violet Ward] Dear Alice,        The top of the morning to you these fine days, and may you not rest in tranquility until Ash Wednesday.        Here I am with my Aunt to enjoy all the delights of the Capitol. I only wish you were along, what fun we would have together.        My camera is here, and I hope to take back some work with me. Undeveloped of course. Did you succeed in securing some snow plates this year? What opportunities you must have had with this season of cold.        There are no end of things to take here. Send me a line to learn of the absent ones. Where is Julia Martin all this time? And why don’t she look me up in New York?        Think I am to have a 6-by-8 camera and want you to come and spook round with me, looking up the right thing when I return to New York.        With kindest regards to your mother.        Ever thine, Violet M.E. Ward +++++++++++ [Narrator] In October 1892, Alice joined her Aunt Nellie, Nellie’s older brother Ralph Munroe, and another man, Thomas Brown, on an adventurous excursion that took them 185 miles by boat from New Brunswick, New Jersey, to Annapolis, Maryland. Sailing for ten days on a two masted sloop designed by Munroe, and called The Wabun, which was the name for the east wind from Longfellow’s Hiawatha, the foursome alternately sailed wide rivers and were pulled through narrow canals. In Alice’s photographs of the event, we see the older, bearded Munroe and Brown, who wore a Harvard sweater in all the pictures. Alice nicknamed the physically fit Brown, Butterball, as he is noted on all her negative sleeves. It may have been because of his appetite – they were the same age. The playfulness is striking in contrast to Henry Gilman’s one-sided formality. After Alice and Nellie disembarked at Annapolis, the men continued on to Biscayne Bay, Florida, where the yacht had originated. Five years earlier, Munroe had purchased 40 acres in Coconut Grove. The home he would soon build there remains as the oldest standing house in Dade County and is now part of Barnacle Historic State Park. Ralph Munroe is best known today as a designer of more than 50 sailing yachts, but he was also a serious photographer. Years earlier, Alice’s mother wrote he had been photographing Clear Comfort: [Alice Cornell Austen] Ralph’s new photos of the house are very pretty, indeed. [Narrator] Fifteen years older than Alice, Ralph Munroe was clearly taken with her. He took her seriously as an individual and also as a photographer. After she and Nellie left the sailing excursion, and while still on the vessel, the widowed Munroe wrote Alice a 1000-word missive. [Ralph Munroe] Aboard the Yacht Wabun, 8.30pm November 26th, 1892 My dear Alice,        We have just had supper, (Corned beef hash, rice cakes & tea) & Butterball’s life is saved f

    34 min

  6. EPISODE 6

    Chapter 6: 1894 - An Intensity of Intention

    Chapter 6: 1894 – an Intensity of Intention (photography / music / travel / bicycling) Image attributions: (HRT) Historic Richmond Town archive; (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 1894 Alice Austen & Violet Ward in their bicycle costumes Violet and Alice posed for two portraits in their matching outfits. (HRT) 1894 Violet Ward’s little camera (detail) Ward is holding her new Kombi camera that shot 1 1/8″ square negatives. Alice’s 4×5″ glass plate camera is alongside her. (HRT) 1894 Alice Austen & Violet Ward in their canal costumes Austen and Ward changed their clothes to make this portrait the same day as the portrait of them wearing their bicycle outfits. They traveled together in September. (HRT) 1894 New York City knife sharpener One of Austen’s earliest New York street photographs that would lead to her Street Types project. (HRT) 1894 letter ordering World’s Fair photos Isabella C. King’s letter, as presented in this episode (see notes) (AAH) 1894 envelope from Julie Bredt Showing the commemorative stamp from the Columbian Exposition. (AAH) Painting of the clipper Samar, which Uncle Oswald captained after the Agra. Oswald Otto Miller (or Muller) captained this ship & Aunt Min often sailed with him. (see notes) 1875 article about the piano aboard the ship Agra 1884 Aunt Min, Uncle Oswald, and Alice Austen Uncle Oswald holds the long cable release, squeezing the bulb to take the photograph. (AAH) c 1885 Aunt Min, John Haggerty Austen & Alice A young Alice Austen sits with her grandfather, aunt, and her pug, Punch. Photograph by Uncle Oswald. (HRT) 1890 banjos and guitars with Julie Bredt Alice (left) with Julie Bredt and 2 men, including Trude Eccleston’s brother John, at right. (see notes) (HRT) 1887 the Steinway upright piano in Clear Comfort’s parlor The piano which may be referenced in the newspaper article as presented in this episode. (HRT) 1895 Alice’s baby grand Steinway piano The piano referenced in letters in this episode. Alice was very particular in her questions before purchasing this piano. (HRT) 1894 piano tuner’s letter Frederic E. Jones letter as presented in this episode (see notes) (AAH) c 1890 Clear Comfort’s middle parlor Another view of the middle parlor, also showing the Duncan Phyfe sofa. (see notes) (HRT) 1888 view of Clear Comfort’s parlor The brightness and clarity in this photo is the result of an 11 1/2 minute exposure, as indicated on Alice Austen’s negative sleeve. (HRT) 1887 view of Alice’s bedroom Brightness and clarity as a result of a  7 1/2 minute exposure, as indicated on Austen’s negatives sleeve. Alice shared this room with her mother. (HRT) c 1890 view of Alice’s bedroom Another view of Alice’s room that she shared with her mother. (HRT) 1889 view of Clear Comfort’s parlor View of the parlor showing the 1835 painting of Alice Cornell Townsend, as presented in Chapter 1. (HRT) c 1890 portrait of Alice Cornell Austen Alice’s mother stand in front of Clear Comfort. (HRT) 1891 parlor with John Haggerty Austen Alice’s 80-year-old grandfather, who bought Clear Comfort in 1844. (HRT) 1890s Alice Cornell Austen Alice’s mother sits in the bedroom she shared with Alice. (HRT) 1897 Clear Comfort’s middle parlor View showing the piano moved as more furniture was added to the room. (HRT) 1887 view of Clear Comfort’s piazza An unusual view of the house’s porch. (HRT) 1891 Alice’s grandfather tending to the vines 80-year-old John Haggerty Austen (1811-1894). (HRT) 1891 Clear Comfort Alice’s grandfather and Julia Martin sit on the piazza. (HRT) 1894 Julia Martin condolence letter Alice’s friends wrote at the death of her grandfather, John Haggerty Austen. (AAH) 1888 view of the Narrows from Clear Comfort’s lawn Alice’s grandfather views the ships in the narrows, two days after her 22nd birthday. (AAH) 1891 Clear Comfort A view of the property showing the lush grounds. (HRT) 1894 Annapolis Alice & Violet Ward went on a canal trip that ended here, at Annapolis, Maryland. (see notes) (HRT) 1894 Maryland oyster shuckers Photographed after the canal trip with Violet Ward. (see notes) (HRT) 1896 Bicycling for Ladies book notice 1896 notice for the publication of Violet Ward’s book – as presented in Chapter 7. 1896 Bicycling for Ladies Violet Ward’s book, as presented in Chapter 7, with an introduction at the end of this episode. PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Opening music … [Alice Cornell Austen] My dearest Lollie,        You wrote a very interesting letter that I received yesterday, that was a wonderful dream of yours; indeed, would it only come true. Your auntie has just bought a dream book. I must look it over about goats.        Well, on Monday I went to Mrs. Hoods and left my dress. She finds she will have ripped the skirt apart entirely. It is too short on the sides. The back seam puckered, etc. She will charge. $1.00 for doing it. I shall be thankful to have anything.        Your auntie has had a bad toothache and has gone twice to Doctor Smith. He is going to kill the nerve. She seems to like the little man. I suppose any letters for you must have come straight for nothing has got here.        There is great excitement in New York over the failure of the Equitable Mortgage Co., liabilities $16,000,000.        Our vines were dreadfully whipped by the last storm. Bert Butler told the Captain that the reason there were no young men at Lake George is that this year none of them have any money to go anywhere. Frank Cuthbertson just back from Saratoga says there is no crowd there, and hotels are losing heavily.        My dearest I shall be so glad to see you on Wednesday.        Your Mama Theme Music … [Narrator] I’m Pamela Bannos in collaboration with the Alice Austen House Museum, and this is My Dear Alice, a podcast series that explores the life of photographer Alice Austen through her photographs and these letters that were discovered decades after her death. You’ll find images of some of these letters, along with photographs referred to here at the website that accompanies this podcast. That’s My Dear Alice dot ORG. Chapter 6 After Henry Gilman’s death, right before Christmas of 1893, his presence disappears from the letter collection, and he is never spoken of again. And other than Alice’s mother’s letter’s brief mention, there is no reference to the nation’s or New York City’s economic troubles. One resource says that New York’s unemployment rate was near 35%. And although history shows that America was in a depression from 1893 through 1897, there is no evidence of strife in the letters that came to Alice at Clear Comfort. But Austen’s photographs do take a shift. Bessie Strong reported that Alice’s photographs of the Chicago Columbian Exposition were on display in a New Brunswick, New Jersey, bookshop, and they also drew the interest of a small group of women who lived near Washington Square in Manhattan. At the end of 1893, Austen had registered for the copyright of 25 of her Chicago photographs. A few months later a Miss Isabella King placed an extensive order for herself and her friends: [Isabella C. King] My dear Miss Austen. I have the following orders for some of your delightful photographs of the Fair. Mrs. King wants Nos. 2.7.8.9.10.24. soft finish like engraving & unmounted. Miss Page wishes Nos. 5.9.7.17.24. mounted & engraving finish (I do not know which you call it technically) … [Narrator] This is the only reference in the archive that shows the extent and variety of printing that Austen did with the specific intention to sell her photos. These were all copyrighted photographs. [Isabella C. King] Miss Fanny Norris wishes Nos. 7.9.10. unmounted & the same finish as Miss Page’s I wish Nos. 2.7.10.14. unmounted engraving finish & Nos. 8 & 9 solid paper unmounted Will you send me word how much they all come to & I will send over a cheque for the full amount. If you would specify each account it would be a great help to me in collecting from the others. Miss Page’s address is Miss Manuela Page, Care Sir William Lane Booker, Brevoort House, New York. Then, Miss Fanny Norris, 30 Washington Sq. West. Mrs King’s can be sent with mine to my address. Very sincerely yours. Isabella C. King 7 University Place [Narrator] A couple of weeks later, and a first for her, Austen became a New York Street photographer, wandering through lower Manhattan, photographing what she would eventually call “Street Types.” Loaded up with 4×5 glass plates and a bulky camera – some say up to 50 pounds of equipment, she ferried over from Staten Island and sought out workers who plied their wares and services on the street: a knife sharpener, a flower seller, bootblacks at their shoeshine stands, a newspaper boy – meticulously annotating the plates’ envelopes that show she was at it for two hours. She will continue with this work for several years, also visiting lower Manhattan, photographing Eastern European immigrants at street markets and other itinerant workers who would pose for her camera. Austen’s friends’ families were wealthier than her own, and other than seasonal enterprises, her women friends mostly did not work. As this group of friends approached the age of 30, except for the few who had married, they each still lived in their family home. In 1894, Clear Comfort, Alice’s home, housed six members of her extended family, including her now elderly grandfather, John Hagerty Austen, who purchased the property fifty years earlier. In a shrewd business move, in 1850, six years after that original purchase and just

    29 min

  7. EPISODE 7

    Chapter 7: 1895 & 1896 - Bicycling for Ladies & Street Types of New York

    Chapter 7: 1895 & 1896 – Bicycling for Ladies & Street Types of New York (collaboration / publication / attribution) Image attributions: (HRT) Historic Richmond Town archive; (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection; (NYPL) New York Public Library. 1889 Violet Ward and unknown friend at Clear Comfort Austen spent time traveling and collaborating with Violet Ward in 1895 & 1896. (AAH) 1895 bowling party Austen’s friend Julia Marsh Lord had a bowling alley in her home. (HRT) 1896 Julia Martin, with Austen & nephew at Clear Comfort Martin visited from Santa Barbara, CA, with her nephew Kingsley. (HRT) 1894 envelope from Julia Martin in Santa Barbara, California Envelope from Santa Barbara, CA, with torn corner stamp removal. AAH) 1894 letter from Julia Martin in Santa Barbara, California Letter from Julia Martin with torn center from envelope stamp removal. (AAH) 1894 The Palms boarding house item Item from Julia Martin’s Santa Barbara boarding house. (AAH) 1895 Violet and Carrie Ward On the set for the Bicycling for Ladies book photos. (HRT) 1896 Bicycling for Ladies Book cover of the original edition – re-issued in 2021. 1895 Daisy Elliott posing for Bicycling for Ladies The bicycle is propped as Elliott holds her pose on the wrong way to turn. (HRT) 1896 page from Bicycling for Ladies One of very few images that was not heavily retouched. 1896 the Bicycle Club Tea event Staten Island Bicycle Club’s clubhouse on the day of the Ride & Tea.  1896 Bicycle Club Ride & Tea A photo in one of Austen’s photo albums. (HRT) 1895 Bicycle Tea event envelope Glass plate envelope with Austen’s meticulous notations. (AAH) 1896 Bicycling for Ladies page Drawn over illustration of Daisy Elliott.  c 1895 portrait of Alice Austen Austen poses with her new bicycle.  1895 letter on Staten Island Bicycle Club stationary Letter from Daisy Elliott. (AAH) 1895 Daisy Elliott poses for Bicycling for Ladies Original caption, “Wheeling From the Peg — Showing Distribution of Weight” (HRT) April 1895 New York street market An early Austen street photograph. (HRT) 1896 Street Types of New York card insert The complete list of Street Types from the portfolio album. (AAH) 1896 Street Type photogravure of Organ Grinder & Wife A photogravure print from the portfolio. (AAH) 1896 Organ Grinder and Wife Photograph of a Street Type image donated in 1950 to the New York Public Library (see notes) (NYPL) 1896 Newspaper vendor A print in the collection of the New York Public Library (see notes) (NYPL) 1896 Hansom Cab at Union Square An image also included in the Street Types portfolio. (see notes) (NYPL) 1896 Mounted Messenger Boy At 30th Street. From the Street Types portfolio – a photogravure print. (AAH) 1896 Newspaper vendors Photograph in the collection of the New York Public Library (NYPL) 1896 Police Officer right profile Austen’s only side view portraits seem to be of large-bellied policemen. (NYPL) 1896 Police Officer left profile Austen’s only side view portraits seem to be of large-bellied policemen. (NYPL) 1896 Rag Carts Photograph in the collection of the New York Public Library (see notes) (NYPL) 1896 copyright submissions Alice Austen copyrighted photographs of the disinfecting boat and her New York street portraits.  1896 New York Quarantine Station A room in the Quarantine Station. (HRT) 1896 mattress and disinfecting chamber One of many photographs Austen shot of the NY Quarantine Station. (HRT) January 1897 Popular Science Monthly Austen collaborated with Violet Ward on two articles about New York’s quarantine facilities. 1895 disinfecting boat negatives envelops Austen made these photos for articles that Violet Ward wrote (see notes) (AAH) 1896 Harper’s Weekly article with Austen’s photographs Violet Ward wrote the article to accompany Alice Austen’s photos.  PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Opening music … [Violet Ward] Chapter 10: Difficulties to Overcome.        The first thing to do after learning the theory of starting and stopping the machine is to make it go. No matter what happens, keep it going, the faster the better, until a taste is acquired for the pastime; until the going forward forever idea seems to have taken possession of you.        Then you want to try it again, but mounting seems more difficult than ever. The machine will not do anything it ought to do; it bucks and kicks and stops and spills and slips, and will not stand still, or even move on. You know how to mount, or think you know; but that knowledge does not seem to aid materially in overcoming the tendencies of the machine. Now be sure that you do know what to do. The first thing to know is that the weight placed on the pedal starts the machine; that the foot on the ground will hold the machine, and keep it from starting; that the machine when in motion will move without falling, and when at rest will not stand still unless held up. Theme Music … [Narrator] That was Violet Ward and an excerpt from her book Bicycling for Ladies. I’m Pamela Bannos in collaboration with the Alice Austen House Museum, and this is My Dear Alice. Chapter 7: By the end of 1894, Alice and her friends were approaching 30, and their individual trajectories were taking form. A few of them settled into married lives, immediately having babies. Childhood friends Julia Marsh and Lou Alexander, already born into comfortable families, married wealthy businessmen. Julia stayed on Staten Island and became popular among her friends for parties at her home’s bowling alley. Lou moved to Boston where Alice would visit and photograph her opulent home and young family. Two other friends, Effie Emmons and Julia Martin moved further away. Effie married Lou Alexander’s brother Junius, and they moved to Washington State, where he was one of the founders of a wilderness town called Sedro, 75 miles north of Seattle, where Effie mostly stayed. Each of these married women had a two-year-old in 1894. Julia Martin also left Staten Island but for different reasons. I’ve mentioned that Julia wrote the most letters remaining in the archive – there are 87 of them. She’s been writing all along as we’ve followed Alice through the 1880s until this point. Her letters, sent from Albany, Schenectady, and Bennington, Vermont, show her as displaced, particularly after her father lost their Staten Island home, which itself was a source of gossip in Alice’s circle: [Alice Cornell Austen] Miss Edwards told your Auntie that Mr. Martin had not bought the house from Mrs. Easton but had leased it for ten years, which is now expiring, and Mrs. E has come over to look after it. She has been seen on the Island with her husband the count. If this is so, the Martins cannot receive the rent, for the place is Mrs. Easton’s. What a snarl it is. [Narrator] In another letter, Alice’s mother followed up: [Alice Cornell Austen] I believe your Auntie wrote that Howard Martin and Amy were staying with I.K. I feel sorry for them, turned out of their pretty house, hard luck all round. Trudie must be glad she threw Howard over. [Narrator] That Trude Eccleston really got around – this is the first reference that she and Julia’s brother, Howard, had once been an item. Julia Martin left Staten Island for Albany, where she ended up working for the elderly Mrs. Cooper. Effie Emmons Alexander wrote: [Effie Emmons Alexander] Poor Julia Martin I feel very sorry for her, I hope she will be happy in this place she’s got; she never was happy at home so, perhaps she will be now. [Narrator] Julia had written Alice all the details, which I’ve largely skipped over until now because except for their summer together in Bennington, Vermont, it mostly veered away from Alice’s story. But this intertwined circle of friends also shows the culture and times in a way that is not particularly accessible through history books. I, for one, was surprised at all the moving and traveling among this tight group – especially in juxtaposition with the Austen family who stayed at Clear Comfort for three generations. At the end of 1891, Julia wrote Alice: [Julia Martin] I came to Mrs Cooper’s on Monday & she is as sweet and kind as ever, and I realize how thankful I should be to have such a home.        The days fly by. Every morning we got out shopping and do not get in till dinner time, after which I read aloud or help Mrs Cooper with anything, then I go out to make calls or to teas etc., so that my mornings & evenings are mostly engaged, but my afternoons are free.        At first when I thought this is my home, no shipping off to Alice Austen’s or to other parts of the earth surface, I felt a little shaky, but I am alright now, and one certainly must be away from one’s friends to appreciate them. [Narrator] Five months later, in April, she wrote: [Julia Martin] On the whole, I have had a pleasant Winter, but I think I am in the habit of staying here a month & there a month, that I feel one place for six months – is it not rather a long stretch? How I should like to see you, Alice. There is so much I should have to say. [Narrator] Then in May: [Julia Martin] Dear Alice,        It is baking hot and I have put on most of my summer underwear, and yet feels 100 in the shade. As the summer comes on, I long to have a glimpse of Staten Island and all my friends, but I fear I am destined for Bennington till next November, with the exception of a week or so in Albany. [Narrator] And then, a few weeks later: [Julia Martin] If I ever left Mrs. Cooper, it should be on the plea of beginning something which should be my life work, which would be true.

    33 min

  8. EPISODE 8

    Chapter 8: 1897 - Daisy Elliott bicycles the Alps & Twilight Park transitions

    Chapter 8: 1897 (Daisy Elliott bicycles the Alps & Twilight Park transitions) Daisy invites Alice to “read between the lines” while Alice meets Gertrude Tate, who will become the love of her life. Image attributions: (HRT) Historic Richmond Town archive; (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 1895 Daisy Elliot posing for Bicycling for Ladies book Demonstrating how to carry a bicycle. (HRT) 1895 Violet Ward & Daisy Elliott On the set for Bicycling for Ladies book illustrations. (HRT) c 1895 Violet Ward & Daisy Elliott Posing with their wheels. (HRT) 1895 Daisy Elliott posing for Bicycling for Ladies book Demonstrating coasting. (HRT) April 27, 1897 parade to dedicate Grant’s Tomb Alice accompanied Violet & her father, as referenced in a letter in this episode. (AAH) 1898 headline for article about Daisy Elliott’s bicycling excursion. Front page New York Times, November 13, 1898. June 26, 1897 letter from Daisy Elliott Written over 10 days on the steamship. (AAH) Daisy Elliott’s steamship The German ship from which Daisy wrote Alice during the 10-day voyage. c 1897 view from Clear Comfort Demonstrating the proximity to passing vessels. (HRT) July 30, 1897 letter from Daisy Elliott Written from the Tyrolean mountains in Austria. (HRT) July 31, 1897 postal from Switzerland Sent to Alice around the time she met Gertrude Tate. (AAH) June 19, 1897 letter from Daisy Elliott First letter, as read in this episode. (AAH) August 1, 1897 postal card from Switzerland Forwarded from Clear Comfort to Twilight Park. (AAH) August 1897 Twilight Park group Gertrude Tate (far left) next to Trude Eccleston. Tate’s mother, back, right, in black. (AAH) August 1897 Twilight Park group with Alice & Gertrude Earliest known image of them together – Alice squeezed in alongside Gertrude. (AAH) 1835 engraving, Catskill Mountain House Same location as Austen’s portrait of Tate. (HRT) August 1897, Gertrude Tate Viewing the Hudson Valley from a perch on a Catskill Mountain. (see notes) (HRT) August 1897, Gertrude Tate dances Part of a photo album sequence. (AAH) August 1897, Gertrude Tate dances Part of a photo album sequence. (AAH) August 1897 Gertrude Tate dancing Animated sequence of nine photographs. (AAH) August 1897, view of Ledge End Inn Group including Trude Eccleston at the cottage where they stayed. (HRT) August 1897, group at Santa Cruz Falls Gertrude Tate center, in profile, dressed in black – Twilight Park. (HRT) July 2022, Santa Cruz Falls Photograph by Pamela Bannos. August 25, 1897, letter from Trude Eccleston Writing about their new friend, Gertrude Tate. (AAH) August 1897, Gertrude Tate dancing on rock Alice Austen at left. Group at Twilight Park. (HRT) Twilight Park Engraving on postal card. July 2022, Twilight Park View of the Hudson Valley. Photograph by Pamela Bannos. c 1900, Union Chapel Twilight Park postcard. July 2022, Union Chapel Twilight Park. Photograph by Pamela Bannos. July 2022, Kaaterskill Falls panorama Near Twilight Park. Photograph by Pamela Bannos. July 2022, Kaaterskill Falls, rocks & bathers below View from lookout. Photograph by Pamela Bannos. Santa Cruz Falls panorama July 2022 photograph by Pamela Bannos. July 2022, Twilight Park Dripping rocks near the Santa Clara Waterfall. Photograph by Pamela Bannos. July 2022, Twilight Park gazebo & Santa Cruz Falls Photograph by Pamela Bannos. July 2022, View from Twilight Park View of the Hudson Valley from Twilight Park. Photograph by Pamela Bannos. PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Opening music … [Daisy Elliott] People over here seem to think us curiosities in our bicycle dresses, occasionally it has been embarrassing. The other night on the train a young peasant man was especially interested in us; he began to talk and ask questions, and as it is the custom of the country to converse with one’s travelling companions, we began by politely responding.        He began by inquiring about where we came from and customs over in America; then about where we had been and where going; so far, all right, but when particularities as to whether we had husbands, as to how old we were and such little things, we began to think it time to sit on him. He didn’t seem to understand, and pityingly remarked to our fellow travelers – “they don’t understand.”        After he and most everyone else had left, we got acquainted with a nice, strong young peasant woman, and when she left us, she was so sympathetic and friendly that she shook hands with us both very cordially. Theme music … [Narrator] That was Daisy Elliott, writing from Europe, while on an outing we’ll be hearing more about in this episode of My Dear Alice, a podcast series about 19th century photographer Alice Austen. Chapter 8: During the busy year of 1896, after Alice Austen finished making two series of photographs specifically for publication – one as a collection of mounted prints, and the other to illustrate articles that Violet Ward wrote for Harper’s Weekly and Scientific Monthly magazine, she kept traveling and photographing. Austen’s Street Types of New York were published in Albertype, a process also known as photogravure, a hybrid of photography and printmaking that allows for many duplicates. It is unknown how many of Austen’s Street Type sets were published, but the portfolio is in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York, the George Eastman House in Rochester, and other museum collections, including two sets at the Alice Austen House Museum, and a beat up set at the University of Miami as part of Ralph Munroe’s archive. On January 2nd, 1897, Austen received a letter from Adolph Wittemann, on letterhead that identified him as the … [Adolph Witteman] “Publisher of the Albertype Company’s American Views – souvenir albums, etc.” [Narrator] When I saw that letter, suddenly things started making a different kind of sense to me in respect to Alice Austen’s range of photography subjects and series of images that she compiled. Wittemann also lived on Staten Island. The Albertype Company published souvenir city booklets and also albums of other themes. In the summer of 1891, Austen photographed a series showing the Bayhead Life Saving Station crew in action – The Albertype company had earlier published a similar set of images in their Atlantic City view book. In 1892, she made a set of photos of Boston, and also Harvard on its Class Day, including a portrait of a young man in his dormitory room – there are letters in the collection that show the conversation leading to that photo shoot. The Albertype company also published around two-dozen college photo books. By that time, the company was also making promotional booklets for factories. Which brings us back to Austen’s 1892 New Brunswick factory visits, when she was staying with her Aunt Nellie, who would write after her visit… [Nellie Austen] Love to all and come again when you can; more factories waiting to be appreciated. [Narrator] An 1893 brochure shows Wittemann’s company inviting anyone to send them photographs for publication, stating: [Adolph Witteman] “We offer to prepare, print, bin and furnish complete an Albertype Souvenir of views of your town, city, establishment, country or section, or a catalogue, pamphlet…, etc.,” [Narrator] Adolph Wittemann issued a view book of Chicago at the end of 1892 in anticipation of the World’s Fair there, and there was another collection of photographs related to the Fair that I stumbled onto while following Alice Austen through her travels and studying her photographic strategies. A book called Street Types of Chicago was issued in 1892 and would have been available during the Columbian Exposition. It showed posed studio character studies, including an organ grinder and a letter carrier. Austen photographed her first “street type” in March 1894, eight months after her Chicago trip, and she refined her approach until settling on the distance and framing that was consistent two years later in her published set of images. In comparison with the theatrical (and racist) character studies in the Chicago publication, Austen’s subjects feel authentic in their representation. Her direct on-the-street portraits were unique for that time, giving a glimpse of street life and also demonstrating her rapport with her subjects. Still, it’s not clear what her intention was in compiling, copyrighting, and publishing the portfolio at the end of 1896. Adolph Wittemann’s letter was an offer for Alice to work for him. [Adolph Wittemann] Would you possibly consider a trip to St. Augustine, Florida, to handle my Florida books for the winter season on consignment? I would pay your passage, but the rest of the expenses and renumeration you would have to make out of your sales. The season lasts till middle of April. [Narrator] Austen apparently rejected Wittemann’s offer to be a salesperson for the Albertype Company, which would have had her spending winter alone in Florida. By early spring, she was back to photographing at the Quarantine Station as commissioned work for New York’s Health Officer, Dr. Alvah Doty. +++++++ As we enter 1897, evidence of Alice Austen’s activities is slim. She was in New Brunswick, New Jersey, at the end of January, visiting Bessie Strong – her Uncle Pete and Aunt Nellie had moved to Brooklyn. After teaching chemistry at Rutgers University for 14 years, Peter Austen was now a popular public lecturer and teacher at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. The next letter from 1897 is a Valentine – and it is the only Valentine note in the collection – not counting Henry Gilman’s from 1893: [Henry K. Gilman] Valentine’s Day h

    38 min

  9. EPISODE 9

    Chapter 9: 1898 and beyond

    Chapter 9: 1898 and beyond (introducing Gertrude Tate) Image attributions: (HRT) Historic Richmond Town archive; (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 1901 Alice Austen & Gertrude Tate Pickard’s penny photos studio portrait – at least 4 known copies. (AAH) c 1896 Alice Cornell Austen Alice’s mother at Clear Comfort’s front path. (HRT) 1885 Austen’s live-in helper, Katie with Chico & Punch Katherine Wertz was with the Austens for more than 10 years. (HRT) 1897 Oneata Violet & Carrie Ward’s house. (HRT) 1897 stairway in Oneata Inside Violet & Carrie Ward’s house. (HRT) 1897 letter from Daisy Elliott Presented in this episode. (AAH) 1889 Amy Martin with baby at Clear Comfort Julia Martin’s brother’s wife. She writes to Alice in this episode. (AAH) 1889 Julia Martin (right) at Clear Comfort Martin is with her sister-in-law Amy (left), and the children’s nanny. (HRT) 1898 letter from Eleanor Coleman Relating to Julia Martin’s illness; presented in this episode. (AAH) 1898 draft for telegram by Alice Austen A rare note by Austen, found in an envelope with Eleanor Coleman correspondence. (AAH) 1898 draft of letter by Alice Austen A rare note by Austen, found in an envelope from Eleanor Coleman. (AAH) 1898 letter form Julia Martin The final letter in the Alice Austen House letter collection. (AAH) 1897 or 1898 portrait of Gertrude Tate at Clear Comfort Taken before her 1899 hair loss. (HRT) 1897 or 1898 Gertrude Tate dances On Clear Comfort’s front porch. (HRT) 1897 or 1898 Gertrude Tate on Clear Comfort’s piazza Taken before her 1899 hair loss. (AAH) 1899 receipt for Catskill Mountain House stay Alice Cornell Austen stayed here, not far from Twilight Park. (AAH) 1899 Catskill Mountain House Not far from Twilight Park, Austen’s mother stayed here in 1899. (AAH) 1899 Alice Cornell Austen at Catskill Mountain House Alice Austen’s mother stayed here while everyone else was at Twilight Park. (AAH) 1899 photo album inside cover Inscribed to Gertrude Tate by Alice Austen. (AAH) 1899 Alice and Gertrude at Twilight Park The earliest known photo of them alone together. (AAH) 2022 Twilight Park porch with view Photographed in July by Pamela Bannos. 1899 Gertrude dances Alice (seated, left) looks up at Gertrude. (AAH) 1899 Gertrude Tate without her wig A startling and intimate portrait. (AAH) 1899 Gertrude Tate wearing a wig Gertrude’s hair loss was due to Typhoid Fever. (AAH) 1899 group portrait at Twilight Park Alice will insert herself into the group alongside Gertrude. (AAH) 1899 group portrait at Twilight Park with Alice Austen After photographing the group, Alice stood alongside Gertrude in the back row. (AAH) 2022 Twilight Park cottage Photographed in July by Pamela Bannos. 2022 view from Twilight Park Photographed in July by Pamela Bannos. 1899 group on Twilight Park porch Gertrude Tate’s mother is at far left. (AAH) 2022 Twilight Park gazebo and Santa Cruz Falls Photographed in July by Pamela Bannos. 1900 Gertrude Tate at Clear Comfort An intimate portrait by Alice Austen. (HRT) 1901 glass plate envelope Austen photographed the Hoffman Island steerage dormitories in April. (AAH) 1901 dormitory for quarantined steerage passengers Austen photographed the quarantine station for NY’s health officer. (HRT) 1901 James S. Wadsworth steamboat Gathering emigrants onto the disinfecting boat. (HRT) 1901 Collier’s Magazine quarantine article By Dr. Alvah Doty, NY Health Officer, llustrated by Alice Austen. 1901 Collier’s Magazine quarantine article By Dr. Alvah Doty, NY Health Officer, illustrated by Alice Austen. 1901 Alice Austen at the reins, with Gertrude Tate At Dingman’s Ferry en route to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY. (HRT) 1901 Austen & Tate at Dingman’s Ferry detail A rare photo of them alone together. (HRT) 1901 Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, NY Austen is said to have taken more than 130 4×5 photographs here. (AAH) 1901 Pan-American Exposition at night Austen hauled 4×5 glass plates and her camera through the exposition. (AAH) 1901 Gertrude Tate portrait detail Tate waits for Austen to finish photographing. (HRT) 1901 Gertrude Tate at the Japanese pavilion At the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY. (HRT) PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Opening music … [Eleanor Coleman] My dear Miss Austin: You have received my telegram and I am so happy to add that Julia still improves.        If all goes well and the physicians now are very hopeful, she can return to the hospital here in about a month. Now, if she can only summon strength to rally, as we hope, six months more and she may resume her work. Of course, her financial condition worries her.        Why don’t that old uncle do something? I should not have written that, so please do not read it. Yours very sincerely Eleanor Coleman [Narrator] As the letter collection nears its end, the correspondents’ lives also begin shifting. Julia Martin was hospitalized for chronic appendicitis as the letters trail off. Theme music … [Narrator] I’m Pamela Bannos, in collaboration with the Alice Austen House Museum, and this is My Dear Alice, a podcast series that explores the life of photographer Alice Austen through her photographs and these letters that were discovered decades after her death. You’ll find images of some of these letters, along with photographs referred to here at the website that accompanies this podcast. That’s My Dear Alice dot ORG. Chapter Nine: At the beginning of September 1897, as Daisy Elliott wrote from the train on route from Geneva, Switzerland to Lyon, France… [Daisy Elliott] We are passing through a very pretty country now: vineyards on all the hills, and a fragrance reminding one of bees & wild honey. [Narrator] She continued her one-sided communication. [Daisy Elliott] I wonder where you are today. I look forward to the Autumn days and some good rides with you. [Narrator] That was to have been her last letter, but she squeezed in one more to be sure Alice would know of her arrival date: [Daisy Elliott] Alice dear – This is positively my last from this side, for day after tomorrow, I sail for home.        I got to Paris day before yesterday and have been rushing around ever since. Such looking women and such horrid men! Of course, not all of them, but so many that you can’t forget it. [Narrator] She was still sore about Violet Ward, and also something else… [Daisy Elliott] I have had a big blow on my arrival here (no, not Violet) – will tell you when I get back.        I think I may have to cross the ocean without my steamer trunk containing all my warm clothes and rugs! Have just had word it cannot be found! This ill luck is getting positively funny.        The “Spree” is due in New York Sunday, September 12th. With love dear, your friend Daisy. [Narrator] I admit, it’s a little unsatisfying to not get the full story between all these women. But I’m hoping on her return that Daisy still thought her bad luck to be funny, because Alice seems to have made amends with Violet. Two days after the Spree arrived at New York’s port, Alice was photographing at Oneata, the Ward’s family estate. She portrayed the lush grounds, including greenhouses and an ice house; she captured a two-horse carriage entering the grand gated entryway; and she shot the house itself, a two-story 18-room mansion covered in vines; and then also, gorgeous interior views, including a tall staircase in a foyer that also included a grandfather clock and a large wooden wall mounted telephone. I’m still wondering if Alice was at Clear Comfort two days earlier when Daisy’s steamship came up the narrows, or if Daisy peered out, her heart pounding as her ship passed the house, close enough to see chairs on the porch. Within days, Alice received a thank you note from someone who she had already sent photographs from Twilight Park, which suggests, like before, she immediately processed her plates and began printing upon her return. And she would print duplicates for herself. The Oneata photographs are in an album in the collection of the Staten Island Historical Society, which also holds Violet Ward’s family papers. So, clearly Austen was busy during those weeks of September after her whirlwind summer – as is also evident from the next letter from Julia Martin, writing from her place in Santa Barbara, California. [Julia Martin] Where are you, & why do you not write to me?? It is ages since I have heard from you. I wrote you weeks ago. [Narrator] Julia went on at length about the goings on at the boarding house, also mentioning her brother Howard, who was a newspaper journalist, and his family who were all with her and would soon move to Juneau, Alaska. Clearly out of touch with Alice’s goings on, she ended her letter… [Julia Martin] How is Violet & her “pal” and how is everyone? And is Trudie engaged yet? I was thinking today that it seems years since I had lived on Staten Island. Life changes one – Give much love to all your family for me & keep lots for yourself. [Narrator] By the end of 1897, golf had commanded everyone’s attention and in November the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball club held the first annual women’s golf championship. Alice Austen was among the top ten listed players, along with Violet Ward and some of their other friends. +++++++ [Narrator] The remaining letters in the collection are notable for conversations around accidents and illnesses. First, pertaining to something that happened to Alice’s mother on a street in Manh

    32 min

  10. EPISODE 10

    Chapter 10: Conclusions

    /*! elementor - v3.8.1 - 13-11-2022 */ .elementor-heading-title{padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title[class*=elementor-size-]>a{color:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-small{font-size:15px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-medium{font-size:19px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-large{font-size:29px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xl{font-size:39px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xxl{font-size:59px} Chapter 10: Conclusions (a rollercoaster ride of highs & lows) Image attributions: (HRT) Historic Richmond Town archive; (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 1894 Effie Emmons Alexander (middle) and Lou Alexander Richards (right) with Julia Marsh Lord. Austen’s married with children friends. (HRT) c 1896 Violet Ward in a blizzard at Clear Comfort while she and Alice Austen spent much time together. (HRT) c 1910 Auntie Min in her upstairs quarters Minnie Austen Hicks Muller at Clear Comfort (AAH) 1903 Alice and Gertrude Tate in Scotland Their first trip abroad. (HRT) 1903 Alice rows for Gertrude Tate In Trossachs, Scotland. (HRT) 1903 Gertrude Tate on donkey during 3 months when they traveled to England, France, Scotland, Germany, and Holland. April 1904 envelope from White Plains from Julia Martin at the Bloomingdale Hospital for the Insane (AAH) June 1905 quarantine photos for Dr. Alvah Doty New York’s Health Officer. New York Tribune. 1905 Gertrude Tate in Paris Trunk reading EAA (Alice’s initials), door reading ETAT, Tate spelled backwards. (HRT) 1905 Beauvais, France Alice and Gertrude at morning tea (HRT) 1905 Gertrude Tate & another traveler in France An early snapshot-type photograph. (HRT) 1905 dance class with Gertrude Tate Tate in back at right (HRT) 1909 Gertrude Tate in Morocco at a picnic spread in Tangier. (HRT) 1909 photos by Alice Austen for Dr. Alvah Doty, New York’s Health Officer. New York Tribune. 1909 Gertrude Tate’s passport photographed en route in Spain (AAH) 1909 sheep alongside canal in Bruges one of many copyrighted photos from 1909 (AAH) 1909 photo ledger & scrapbook items from a 5 month European excursion (HRT) 1910 Alice & Gertrude with Guy Loomis Tate’s longtime Brooklyn friend, sometimes traveling to Europe together – with his car. (HRT) c 1909 Alice, Gertrude & Guy Loomis Austen photographing a car race (HRT) 1911 Austen photos in syndicated feature Makeshift photography article – a Page for Misses. 1911 tree as tripod for newspaper photo spread – Makeshift Photography. c 1911 Gertrude & Alice in Italy at the Hotel Eden Molaro, on the Island of Capri. 1911 the Lusitania on its ill-fated last voyage as noted on Austen’s negative sleeve (HRT) c 1910 Gertrude Tate at Clear Comfort’s front pathway (HRT) 1912 Austen’s photos in syndicated feature Illustrations including of Clear Comfort’s front lawn.  1912 The Winter Garden Club for Girls detail showing photo credit. 1912 Gertrude Tate in Germany Alice & Gertrude traveled to Sweden, Denmark & Germany in 1912 (HRT) 1912 Alice Austen self-portrait on the SS Cleveland Returning to America from Cherbourg, France. (HRT) 1913 Gertrude Tate & Guy Loomis at Lake George at the Hotel Sagamore in August. (HRT) 1917 ambulance driving lessons Austen taught 100s of women how to drive during WW1. 1918 SS Leviathan in dazzle camouflage Returning after delivering thousands of American soldiers. (HRT) 1919 Austen WW1 work Alice Austen pictured at far right, middle row, in top photo; far right, front row in bottom photo. c 1928 Gertrude Tate waves flag at passing ships (HRT) 1922 Austen’s new Franklin car pictured alongside Clear Comfort (HRT) 1920 Gertrude Tate & friends wave at SS Pocahontas Returning the remains of 2,000 soldiers. (HRT) 1930 potential transportation tunnel (see podcast transcript or notes) 1887 Clear Comfort’s view at rustic gate entrance facing north (AAH) 1930 Clear Comfort’s view at rustic gate showing encroaching industry (AAH) 1931 Duncan Phyfe sofa from 1810 photographed before auctioned by Lloyd Hyde (see notes) (HRT) 1932 auction catalog with Austen sofa re-upholstered and sold for $1,400. c 1933 Alice Austen newspaper clippings one of several folders of loose clippings (HRT) 1932 passing ship Austen also began filming ships passing during this time. (HRT) 1934 Jessie Vanderbilt Simons traveling with Hollywood’s elite Simons helped during this time when Austen filed for bankruptcy (see notes.)  July 1937 review of the Clear Comfort tea house by New Yorker magazine. c 1937 ad card for the Clear Comfort tea house (AAH) c 1937 tables set for the Clear Comfort tea house (HRT) c 1937 Arvid Knudsen with Gertrude & Alice Still from 16mm film (see notes) (HRT) c 1937 Arvid Knudsen & Lloyd Hyde with Gertrude Tate Still from 16mm film (see notes) (HRT) 1940 letter from Alice Austen asking her cousin Rogers Winthrop for help (see notes) (AAH) 1940 tax photo of Clear Comfort showing the beginning of its decay.  1887 Wisteria vine with another vine on tree (HRT) 1893 Wisteria vine with grandfather John Haggerty Austen the year before he died. (HRT) c 1925 Wisteria vine with support, during the time of the Wisteria tea party (HRT) c 1940 Alice Austen as “wizard” posing by her beloved wisteria vine (HRT) 1941 Auction catalog cover page containing many objects from the Austen home (AAH) 1941 auction catalog page showing items prices penciled in margin (AAH) 1941 New Yorker review of Clear Comfort Tea House A catty review. 1941 Austen documented the items that she would sell Links from chain forged by Townsend ancestor (see notes) (HRT) 1941 part of object inventory to sell Candlesticks as pictured in the parlor decades earlier. (HRT) 1941 Vogue magazine review of the Clear Comfort Tea House. 1941 Knoxville Sentinel review of Clear Comfort Tea House The business closed this year.  1944 eviction debacle In 1941 the bank foreclosed, and then in 1944 it sold Clear Comfort to the Mandia family. (see notes) 1944 eviction stopped The family that bought Clear Comfort illegally offered it for sale. (AAH) 1944 Alice Austen & Gertrude Tate Photographed by their boarder Dr. Richard Cannon. 1950 census Mariner’s Family Asylum 1951 LIFE magazine showing Austen from 1892 (AAH) 1951 LIFE Magazine showing Austen’s family and home. (AAH) 1951 LIFE magazine showing images as featured in Chapter 3 of this podcast. (AAH) 1951 LIFE magazine showing photos described throughout this podcast (AAH) 1951 LIFE magazine horribly sensation final page in photo spread (AAH) 1951 Alice Austen Day at Staten Island Historical Society with Gertrude Tate, as published in LIFE magazine. Photo © Yale Joel 1951 Alice Austen Day at Staten Island Historical Society published in LIFE magazine. photo © Yale Joel 1951 very sad photo of Austen at Clear Comfort Alfred Eisenstaedt and Oliver Jensen brought Austen back to her home for LIFE magazine article (see notes) 1951 recognitions Austen appeared on television, and was celebrated on Alice Austen Day. (AAH) 1952 New York Times obituary Austen died 9 months after being celebrated for her photography. (AAH) 1952 Alice Austen obituary Austen’s story was celebrated after her death. She would become recognized for the highs and lows of her final years. 1952 letter from Gertrude Tate to Oliver Jensen, expressing her devotion to Alice Austen. (AAH) 1951 Alfred Eisenstaedt photo of Austen at Clear Comfort unpublished photo for LIFE magazine (see notes) c 1964 Clear Comfort around the time the Mandia family moved out. Unattributed press photo, collection of Pamela Bannos. c 1979 Clear Comfort photographed for structure report © Diana Mara Henry (AAH) c 1981 Clear Comfort before renovation © Diana Mara Henry (AAH) 1984 Clear Comfort during renovation © Diana Mara Henry (AAH) Clear Comfort today Photograph by Pamela Bannos. /*! elementor - v3.8.1 - 13-11-2022 */ .elementor-accordion{text-align:left}.elementor-accordion .elementor-accordion-item{border:1px solid #d4d4d4}.elementor-accordion .elementor-accordion-item+.elementor-accordion-item{border-top:none}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title{margin:0;padding:15px 20px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;cursor:pointer;outline:none}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title .elementor-accordion-icon{display:inline-block;width:1.5em}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title .elementor-accordion-icon svg{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title .elementor-accordion-icon.elementor-accordion-icon-right{float:right;text-align:right}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title .elementor-accordion-icon.elementor-accordion-icon-left{float:left;text-align:left}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title .elementor-accordion-icon .elementor-accordion-icon-closed{display:block}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title .elementor-accordion-icon .elementor-accordion-icon-opened,.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title.elementor-active .elementor-accordion-icon-closed{display:none}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title.elementor-active .elementor-accordion-icon-opened{display:block}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-content{display:none;padding:15px 20px;border-top:1px solid #d4d4d4}@media (max-width:767

    46 min
  • 10 Episodes

5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

19th century New York photographer Alice Austen’s life story through letters returned to her home decades after her death. The letters are a portal to photographic, women’s, and LGBTQ history.

Information

  • Creator
    Pamela Bannos
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    10
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2022 Pamela Bannos
  • Show Website
    My Dear Alice