Gender Nonconformity in the Progressive Era: Margaret Cartwright of Albion Michigan Photo Album 157 photographs, Documenting Cross Dressing and Youth Culture, circa 1914 to 1923

Cross Dressing Photo Album

Archive

[Women’s History] [Gender and Sexuality] [Photography] Cartwright, Margaret. Photograph album, circa 1914 to 1923 documents female youth culture, wartime social life, and gender nonconforming expression in Albion, Michigan during the World War I era. The album records a network of young women associated with local school and community institutions and provides visual evidence of cross dressing practices among women in the 1910s and early 1920s, including staged and candid images of women adopting masculine clothing, posture, and social behaviors. These photographs establish a direct visual record of gender experimentation at a time when public documentation of such expression was limited, while also situating these practices within everyday social environments including school functions, recreational gatherings, and wartime encounters.

Albion, Michigan, circa 1914 to 1923. Black cloth photograph album with ownership bookplate of Margaret Cartwright containing 157 black and silver gelatin photographs, most measuring approximately 4.5 x 3 inches, ranging from formal portraits to informal group scenes. Multiple images depict young women dressed in suits, ties, work shirts, trousers, and hats, some smoking pipes and cigarettes in group settings, while others pose individually or in pairs in masculine attire, including one photograph of a woman holding a rifle in military style dress. School related content includes a “Seniors ’19” group portrait, images of a girls’ basketball team identified as “Clionian,” and documented events such as the “9th Annual H.S. Banquet” and the “Clionian Banquet, April 27, 1917.” A “First Annual Kimona Parade” dated 1919 shows an auditorium filled with participants in Japanese style garments, indicating organized school pageantry and cultural performance. Additional photographs include wartime imagery of an amputee soldier with crutches posing alongside female companions, early motorcycles, rural labor scenes, and outdoor gatherings near large wooden structures likely used for school or community functions.

The album situates female adolescence within a period marked by expanding public roles for women, including increased participation in education, athletics, and wartime support activities during and after World War I. The presence of gender nonconforming dress within peer group settings indicates that such experimentation occurred within structured social environments rather than isolated contexts, while the inclusion of injured soldiers links these social worlds to the immediate aftermath of war. The combination of school life, performative events, and gender expression provides a layered record of how young women negotiated identity, community, and visibility in the early twentieth century. Moderate handling wear to album with some edge wear and occasional creasing to photographs; images remain clear and well preserved. Overall very good condition. A substantial visual record of women’s social life and gender expression in a Midwestern community during the World War I generation.

Item #21525

Price: $1,250.00