Female Impersonators, 1900-1920

Sixty-two late-Wilhelmine female impersonator postcards portraying thirty individuals in their Damen-Imitator personas, including three photographs of "Gauze, Canadian Indian Soprano." Sixteen are signed or inscribed by the subjects, with references to gay cabarets in Berlin, Cologne, Kiel, and throughout the country. Five are addressed to Paul Shafer and one to Asta, female impersonators of the period, who are also pictured on some of the cards. One postcard depicts Man de Wirth in costume, circa 1920s. This may be Franz Man de Wirth, described on an 1898 German postcard (viewed online) as the best female impersonator of the time.