William Goldman (photographer)

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William I. Goldman, 1896 or earlier

William I. "Billy" Goldman (born March 27, 1856 in Wernersville , Berks County , Pennsylvania ; died January 25, 1922 in Reading , Berks County, Pennsylvania) was an American photographer . As a successful businessman and member of several Masonic lodges and brotherhoods such as the Shriners and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, he was highly regarded and a pillar of society. His business was to photograph Reading and Berks County's dignitaries, but his personal collection of photographs of the women in Sallie Shearer's brothel , which was near his studio , made a lasting impression .

The photo collection was apparently known only to Goldman, his models, and Sallie Shearer, and it remained unpublished during Goldman's lifetime. The pictures were put together in one or more albums and first went to a postcard dealer . They were sold by his widow around 2010 to the photo historian Robert Flynn Johnson, who published them in 2018. The images provide a glimpse of late 19th century clothing and interiors and the social situation of working class women, some of whom preferred prostitution to poorly paid factory or shop jobs.

Life

Penn Street, Reading, about 1890

William I. Goldman was born on March 27, 1856 in Wernersville , Berks County . He went to school in Reading , Berks County and had at least three brothers who survived him. Goldman remained unmarried throughout his life. In 1876 he started working for the local photographer EE Hafer. After 15 years as an employee, Goldman opened his own studio at 602 Penn Street in 1891. His professional experience and the reputation he had gained as an employee of Hafer quickly brought him business success. Contemporary reports name Goldman a hugely popular gentleman who has served in several Masonic lodges and brotherhoods such as the Shriners , the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks , and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows .

Photos from Sallie Shearer's brothel

On the left, presumably Sallie Shearer , with two unidentified women, photographed by William Goldman, around 1892
Act of a prostitute reading the Reading Eagle
Nude of a prostitute, with one of Goldman's photo albums
William Goldman, possibly a self-portrait

While Goldman took professional photographs of the respected citizens of Reading and Berks Counties, he privately created an album of more than 200 pictures of mostly naked or scantily clad women from Sallie Shearer's brothel on the corner of North 8th and Walnut Streets. Sallie Shearer's brothel was only ten minutes' walk from Goldman's studio, and there were at least two other brothels on Walnut Street.

Reading was a rapidly expanding economic center in the late 19th century, to which workers and business people were brought in by the newly built railway line. The city had a tiered system of sexual services for sale. At the bottom were the street girls who were available in the area around the station and in the saloons. The luxury segment was the parlor houses , noble brothels with a salon for the waiting suitors and an entertainment program, which also included Sallie Shearer's brothel. In the local press, the brothels were euphemistically referred to as resorts or ranches , the prostitutes as residents. In 1898, a police officer described Sallie Shearer's brothel as “superbly decorated. The finest velvet carpets cover the floor, beautiful mirrors adorn the walls and the rooms are nicely decorated "( English " magnificently furnished. The finest velvet carpets cover the floors, beautiful mirrors adorn the walls and the rooms are beautifully decorated " ).

Goldman's photographs, which are comparable to those of Ernest J. Bellocq in New Orleans , were discovered by Robert Flynn Johnson around 2010 in the holdings of a dealer at a postcard exchange in Concord , California . Johnson initially only bought two prints, but later visited the dealer in her hometown in the Sierra Foothills and gradually acquired the rest of the collection. The dealer said the collection was originally in photo albums her late husband bought at a gun fair in Cincinnati , Ohio . Johnson was able to deduce the location and approximate date of the recordings from one of the prints showing a woman reading the Reading Eagle on August 14, 1892. Other images show women looking at individual photographs or entire photo albums. Research in Reading and discussions with local historians enabled Johnson to identify Goldman as the photographer.

Most of the footage shows naked or scantily clad employees from Sallie Shearer's brothel. But there are also some pictures of women in everyday poses, a series of pictures of a suitor in athletic poses and handling a revolver, three pictures of an African American woman, a pregnant woman, and a nude by Goldman, which may be a self-portrait. There are a number of images that show two women, but only one with a man and a woman, and no photo shows sexual activity. Only two of the pictures are outdoors and only one of the women is an African American. But there were brothels in Reading with African American women, like Harry Weaver's Mahogany Hall at 729 North Twelfth Street.

While most of the pictures appear to have been taken in Sallie Shearer's brothel, others show typical props, backgrounds, costumes, and poses of a professional photography studio. These include a crescent moon and a column capital as props, and the robes of a praying woman or a woman dressed as a Greek goddess. During his research into archives in Pennsylvania, Johnson found no evidence of publication of the pictures. Nor does he believe that the photo albums were used as catalogs for the suitors to select women. The great fluctuation among the employees of a brothel did not allow that. Although some women may turn away from the camera or hide their faces, most appear relaxed and some pose visibly proud.

The pictures give an impression of the clothing fashion and interior design at the end of the 19th century. Dennita Sewell pointed out the underwear, with stockings, petticoats and bodices , the removal of which was part of the striptease for the suitor or for the photographer. While such undergarments were commonplace for middle class women, they were usually unaffordable for working class women.

The images also suggest that Goldman was aware of contemporary social issues. In one picture, a possibly pregnant woman poses with her hand on a book The Science of a New Life by doctor John Cowan. In it, Cowan advocates allowing women to use contraception and giving them the same rights as men. Overall, the images leave no doubt about Goldman's interest in the female body and that the “decent” women of the city were not available to him as models. There is also no question that the discovery of his secret passion in Victorian-influenced Reading would have meant a scandal and its social and economic ruin.

  • Photographs from Sallie Shearer's brothel, circa 1892

  • Two women

  • Act of a suitor with a revolver

  • Contemporary fashion

  • Woman with a crescent moon

  • Woman with John Cowan's The Science of a New Life

  • Elaborate underwear

Death and rediscovery

William Goldman died of heart disease on January 25, 1922 in his home at 230 North 6th Street, Reading. He was buried in Charles Evans Cemetery , Reading.

In 2018, exhibitions of Goldman's photographs were held in galleries in New York City and San Francisco. Robert Flynn Johnson published the pictures in book form in 2018, with a foreword by Dita Von Teese , a foreword by Ruth Rosen , professor of gender history, and an essay by fashion historian and curator Dennita Sewell .

literature

Web links

Commons : William I. Goldman  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ruth Rosen: Preface . In: Robert Flynn Johnson (Ed.): Working Girls. To American Brothel, circa 1892. The Secret Photographs of William Goldman . S. 13-22 .
  2. ^ A b Robert Flynn Johnson: Working Girls , p. 35.
  3. ^ Robert Flynn Johnson: Working Girls , p. 40.
  4. ^ Robert Flynn Johnson: Working Girls , pp. 31, 240.
  5. ^ A b c Robert Flynn Johnson: Working Girls , pp. 37-38.
  6. ↑ a b c Bawdy Houses Raided. Arrests Made by the Police in an Effort to Lessen the Number of Resorts . In: Reading Times . August 19, 1898, p. 1 ( wikimedia.org [JPG]).
  7. ^ A b Robert Flynn Johnson: Working Girls , pp. 33-34.
  8. ↑ A Midnight Raid on a "Ranche." In: Reading Times . October 8, 1883, p. 1 ( wikimedia.org [JPG]).
  9. ↑ a b Robert Flynn Johnson: Working Girls , pp. 32-33.
  10. ^ Robert Flynn Johnson: Working Girls , pp. 25-26.
  11. ^ Robert Flynn Johnson: Working Girls , pp. 38, 88-91.
  12. ^ Robert Flynn Johnson: Working Girls , pp. 64-65.
  13. ^ Robert Flynn Johnson: Working Girls , p. 82.
  14. ^ Robert Flynn Johnson: Working Girls , pp. 24, 35.
  15. ^ Robert Flynn Johnson: Working Girls , pp. 30, 39.
  16. ↑ Dennita Sewell: Layers of Seduction . In: Robert Flynn Johnson (Ed.): Working Girls. To American Brothel, circa 1892. The Secret Photographs of William Goldman . S. 47-48 .
  17. ^ A b Robert Flynn Johnson: Working Girls , pp. 36, 41.
  18. ^ John Cowan: The Science of a New Life . Fowler & Wells, New York 1869, pp. 380-381 ( digitized versionhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Dscienceofnewlife00cowaiala~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~doppelseiten%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D ).
  19. ↑ Photographer Goldman Dies . In: Reading Times . January 26, 1922, p. 4 ( wikimedia.org [JPG]).
  20. ^ Robert Flynn Johnson: Working Girls , pp. 34-35.
  21. ↑ Working Girls: An American Brothel, circa 1892 The Secret Photographs of William Goldman. In: artnet . 2018, accessed January 16, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Dita Von Teese : Unseen photos provide a sensitive look at America's early 'working girls'. In: CNN Style. November 29, 2018, accessed January 15, 2020 .
  23. ^ Edward M. Gómez: Glimmers of Modernism from a 19th Century Bordello. A brothel customer's photographs of 19th-century prostitution, made with sympathy and imagination. In: Hyperallergic. September 15, 2018, accessed January 16, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Goldman, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Goldman, Billy (alternate name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American photographer
DATE OF BIRTH March 27, 1856
PLACE OF BIRTH Wernersville , Berks County , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 1922
Place of death Reading , Berks County , Pennsylvania