Lunch & Learn: Too Good to Get Married

Join the NYC Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) each month for our virtual Lunch & Learn Series - an intimate conversation with agency staff and special guests focusing on the collections of the Municipal Archives and Library and the history of New York City.

On June 17th, join Bonnie Yochelson as she discusses her new book, Too Good to Get Married: The Life and Photographs of Miss Alice Austen.

Alice Austen was an amateur photographer known for documenting Victorian society life on Staten Island. Austen became known for a group of humorous photographs in which she and her friends challenged gender norms— “smoking” cigarettes, feigning drunkenness, and dressing in men’s clothing—and for “Street Types of New York,” a portfolio depicting people who worked on Manhattan’s streets. Since then, her former home has become a museum, and she is celebrated as a photographer and an LGBTQ+ icon.

Discover what inspired Yochelson to write about Alice Austen, how Austen challenged and conformed to the ideals of Staten Island society, and the historical significance of her photography.

About the Author:

Bonnie Yochelson is a former Curator of Prints and Photographs at the Museum of the City of New York and an independent art historian and curator. Her notable works include Jacob A. Riis: Revealing New York’s Other Half; Alfred Stieglitz New York; Berenice Abbott: Changing New York; and her latest work, Too Good to Get Married: The Life and Photographs of Miss Alice Austen.

Yochelson received a Robert D. L. Gardiner Writing Fellowship from The Gotham Center, CUNY Graduate Center for Too Good to Get Married. She also received the full cooperation of Alice Austen House and Historic Richmond Town, which lent generous financial and staff support.

To learn more about Bonnie Yochelson, visit: https://www.bonnieyochelson.com.

Interested in purchasing Too Good to Get Married? Use code DORIS-FI to get 25% off plus free shipping when you order from https://www.fordhampress.com/9781531509507/too-good-to-get-married/