Box 1

Scope and Contents

Postcard showing eight men in 17th-century costumes, including two female impersonators. All are posed in front of a brick wall in a garden.

Scope and Contents

Postcard showing ten men in a variety of costumes, including four dressed as women in dresses and wigs. All are posed in front of an exterior wall.

Scope and Contents

Postcard showing five men in costume, including two as a male-female couple of flamenco dancers and two as a male-female couple of 18th-century French aristocrats.

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION From the Collection: Postcards portraying cross-dressing and female and male impersonators in France, Sweden, Austria, Spain, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Italy, and Romania. Postcards include photographic and photomechanical prints, some hand-colored. All are printed between circa 1900 and 1930 and depict performers on amateur, café-concert, music-hall, and legitimate stages at the high-point of cross-dressing as a form of entertainment. Many depict gallant visual narratives of...

Scope and Contents

Historical scene showing Joan of Arc telling the dauphin of France that he will be crowned king at Reims. As is conventional for iconography of Joan during her period of combat, she wears men's clothing in this case, an elaborate doublet and riding boots. Conversely, this image steps outside the convention by including a halberd-bearer accompanying Joan; the footsoldier is played by a male impersonator. Inscription: "Addressed to Lucien Renault; signed "Ta soeurette [illegible]".

Scope and Contents

Joan of Arc in a doublet, breastplate and helmet, holding a sword and battle standard against a smoky background. A doggerel verse printed in red at upper left on the recto recounts her victory over the English. Inscription: "Addressed to Jeanne Carlin. Brief unsigned message on recto."

Scope and Contents Complete series of eight postcards portraying key moments in the history of Joan of Arc. Each card has a caption indicating Joan's presence at a particular place, along with a date. The first postcard shows her dressed as a simple shepherd girl hearing mystical voices; the next five show her as the savior of France dressed in full armor, with a sword and battle standard, but with the long hair of a woman; the seventh shows her "devant ses juges" wearing a simple man's doublet; and the final...

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION From the Collection: Postcards portraying cross-dressing and female and male impersonators in France, Sweden, Austria, Spain, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Italy, and Romania. Postcards include photographic and photomechanical prints, some hand-colored. All are printed between circa 1900 and 1930 and depict performers on amateur, café-concert, music-hall, and legitimate stages at the high-point of cross-dressing as a form of entertainment. Many depict gallant visual narratives of...

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION From the Collection: Postcards portraying cross-dressing and female and male impersonators in France, Sweden, Austria, Spain, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Italy, and Romania. Postcards include photographic and photomechanical prints, some hand-colored. All are printed between circa 1900 and 1930 and depict performers on amateur, café-concert, music-hall, and legitimate stages at the high-point of cross-dressing as a form of entertainment. Many depict gallant visual narratives of...

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION From the Collection: Postcards portraying cross-dressing and female and male impersonators in France, Sweden, Austria, Spain, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Italy, and Romania. Postcards include photographic and photomechanical prints, some hand-colored. All are printed between circa 1900 and 1930 and depict performers on amateur, café-concert, music-hall, and legitimate stages at the high-point of cross-dressing as a form of entertainment. Many depict gallant visual narratives of...