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Figure 6

Citation

photographer Unknown Photographer Photographer (Meadville, Pennsylvania). “Miss Halleon, American Bearded Lady.” circa 1865. Gregory Fried Collection. Mirror of Race, 25 Jan. 2021, mirrorofrace.bc.edu/items/show/123. Accessed 18 May 2024.

Title

Miss Halleon, American Bearded Lady

Subject

Miss Halleon, American Bearded Lady

Creator

photographer Unknown Photographer Photographer (Meadville, Pennsylvania)

Date

circa 1865

Type

Studio Portrait

Identifier

Figure 6

Rights Holder

Gregory Fried Collection

Original Format

Process: carte de visite, albumen print

Factual Commentary

The back on this photograph reads, 'Miss Halleon, American Bearded Lady, age 28, Castile, Wyoming County, N.Y.' Like Mungo Park, the 'Spotted Boy' in the previous slide, the ?bearded lady? was also a cause of fascination for the Victorian imagination. Both raised the disruptive possibility that what were assumed to be fixed and natural categories ? race and sex ? might not be as stable as desired by the social structures that depended on these categories being defined, certain, and enduring. The color on this photograph was applied by hand in the photographer?s studio, and the image would have been used for marketing and for sales.