What is My Dear Alice about?

My Dear Alice tells the story of Victorian photographer Alice Austen through letters, photographs, and the history of Clear Comfort, her Staten Island home. It connects Austen's life to women's history, photography history, and LGBTQ history.

Who hosts My Dear Alice?

My Dear Alice is hosted and created by Pamela Bannos.

How long are My Dear Alice episodes?

Episodes usually run about 30 to 45 minutes, with most chapters landing near the middle of that range.

How often does My Dear Alice release?

My Dear Alice released weekly during its 2022 run and appears to be a completed ten-chapter series.

Where can I listen to My Dear Alice?

My Dear Alice is available on Podfriend and any podcast app that supports RSS, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

My Dear Alice

Pamela Bannos·10 episodes

ArtsVisualHistorySocietyCultureDocumentarySerialized documentaryQueer historyPhotography historyStaten Island30-45 min/epStart from chapter 1

This is a story of home, history, celebration, and reclamation. Clear Comfort, now known as the Alice Austen House Museum, sits on the north bank of Staten Island with a sweeping view of the Manhattan skyline. Victorian photographer Alice Austen (1866-1952) lived here her whole life, until she was evicted in 1945. Decades later, boxes of letters that had been found in a closet were returned to the house that had been restored to its 1890's appearance, when the letters first arrived. The letter collection serves as a portal to photographic, women's, and LGBTQ history. Alice Austen and her life partner...

Why listen

My Dear Alice is a carefully built historical documentary from Pamela Bannos that turns a recovered cache of letters into an intimate portrait of Victorian photographer Alice Austen. Across ten chapters, it connects Clear Comfort on Staten Island, Austen's photographs, women's friendships, and LGBTQ history into one chronological story. It is a strong fit for listeners who like archival mysteries, visual culture, queer history, and place-based storytelling.

Series(1)

10 eps

0/10

Series

My Dear Alice

Episodes

46 min

Dec 1, 2022Episode 10

Chapter 10: Conclusions

/*! elementor - v3.8.1 - 13-11-2022 */ .elementor-heading-title{padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title[class*=elementor-size-]>a{color:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-small{font-size:15px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-medium{font-size:19px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-large{font-size:29px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xl{font-size:39px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xxl{font-size:59px} Chapter 10: Conclusions (a rollercoaster ride of highs (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 1894 Effie Emmons Alexander (middle) and Lou Alexander Richards (right) with Julia Marsh Lord. Austen’s married with children friends. (HRT) c 1896 Violet Ward in a blizzard at Clear Comfort while she and Alice Austen spent much time together. (HRT) c 1910

31 min

Nov 24, 2022Episode 9

Chapter 9: 1898 and beyond

Chapter 9: 1898 and beyond (introducing Gertrude Tate) Image attributions: (HRT) Historic Richmond Town archive; (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 1901 Alice Austen & Gertrude Tate Pickard’s penny photos studio portrait – at least 4 known copies. (AAH) c 1896 Alice Cornell Austen Alice’s mother at Clear Comfort’s front path. (HRT) 1885 Austen’s live-in helper, Katie with Chico & Punch Katherine Wertz was with the Austens for more than 10 years. (HRT) 1897 Oneata Violet & Carrie Ward’s house. (HRT) 1897 stairway in Oneata Inside Violet & Carrie Ward’s house. (HRT) 1897 letter from Daisy Elliott <

38 min

Nov 17, 2022Episode 8

Chapter 8: 1897 - Daisy Elliott bicycles the Alps & Twilight Park transitions

Chapter 8: 1897 (Daisy Elliott bicycles the Alps (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 1895 Daisy Elliot posing for Bicycling for Ladies book Demonstrating how to carry a bicycle. (HRT) 1895 Violet Ward & Daisy Elliott On the set for Bicycling for Ladies book illustrations. (HRT) c 1895 Violet Ward & Daisy Elliott Posing with their wheels. (HRT) <img decoding="async" src="https://mydearalice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/1895_bfw-daisy-50.015.2528-1000px-copy.jpg" data-lazy-src="https://mydearalice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/1895_bfw-daisy-50.015.2528-1000px-copy.jpg" al

32 min

Nov 10, 2022Episode 7

Chapter 7: 1895 & 1896 - Bicycling for Ladies & Street Types of New York

Chapter 7: 1895 (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection; (NYPL) New York Public Library. 1889 Violet Ward and unknown friend at Clear Comfort Austen spent time traveling and collaborating with Violet Ward in 1895 & 1896. (AAH) 1895 bowling party Austen’s friend Julia Marsh Lord had a bowling alley in her home. (HRT) 1896 Julia Martin, with Austen & nephew at Clear Comfort Martin visited from Santa Barbara, CA, with her nephew Kingsley. (HRT) 1894 envelope from Julia Martin in Santa Barbara, California Envelope from Santa Barbara, CA, with torn corner stamp removal. AAH) 1894 letter from Julia Martin in Santa Barbara, California Letter from Julia Martin with torn center from envelope stamp removal. (AAH) <a href="https://mydearalice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/1894_12-1-Palms-1000px.

29 min

Nov 3, 2022Episode 6

Chapter 6: 1894 - An Intensity of Intention

Chapter 6: 1894 – an Intensity of Intention (photography / music / travel / bicycling) Image attributions: (HRT) Historic Richmond Town archive; (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 1894 Alice Austen & Violet Ward in their bicycle costumes Violet and Alice posed for two portraits in their matching outfits. (HRT) 1894 Violet Ward’s little camera (detail) Ward is holding her new Kombi camera that shot 1 1/8″ square negatives. Alice’s 4×5″ glass plate camera is alongside her. (HRT) 1894 Alice Austen & Violet Ward in their canal costumes Austen and Ward changed their clothes to make this portrait the same day as the portrait of them wearing their bicycle outfits. They traveled together in September. (HRT) 1894 New York City knife sharpener One of Austen’s earliest New York street photographs that would lead to her Street Types project. (HRT) 1894 letter ordering World’s Fair photos Isabella C. King’s letter, as presented in this episode (see n

33 min

Oct 27, 2022Episode 5

Chapter 5: 1892 & 1893 - On the Go

Chapter 5: 1892 (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 1892 Bessie Strong & Jack Van Dyke Strong often mentions her cousin Jack Van Dyke, an art historian who taught at Rutgers University and gave public lectures to audiences upwards of 1,000 people. The emulsion peeled from the glass plate. (HRT) 1892 Mr. Hopper Photographed by Alice Austen at Watkins Glen, NY. (HRT) 1892 View from Clear Comfort with Violet & Trude Clear Comfort was visible to passing vessels, which Austen photographed for many decades. This image shows a camera on a tripod, a telescope, and Violet Ward & Trude Eccleston viewing the passing boats. (HRT) 1894 Camera Mosaics journal The journal published American Camera Club photographs. (AAH) 1894 Austen’s photos in the Camera Mosaics journal An unchara

35 min

Oct 20, 2022Episode 4

Chapter 4: Relationships

Chapter 4: 1891 (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 1892 Alice Austen Alice Austen on Clear Comfort’s piazza in September 1892 (HRT) 1892 Julie Bredt Julie Bredt on Clear Comfort’s piazza in September 1892. (HRT) 1892 Trude Eccleston Trude Eccleston on Clear Comfort’s piazza in July 1892. (HRT) 1890 letter from Julie Bredt Julie Bredt did not favor punctuation. (AAH) 1891 Alice, Julia, and Julie (L-R) Alice Austen, Julia Martin, and Julie Bredt. (HRT) 1891 Alice, Julia and Julie <p

30 min

Oct 13, 2022Episode 3

Chapter 3: 1890 & 1891 - Enigmatic Portraits

Chapter 3: 1890 (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 1887 Bessie Strong & Alice Austen Bessie Strong lived in New Brunswick, New Jersey. (HRT) (see notes) 1890 Alice and Julie Bredt Julie and Alice at Clear Comfort on Hallooween, 1890 (HRT) c. 1890 Julia Martin (right) & the Sibleys at Clear Comfort’s piazza Julia Martin (right) wrote the most letters in the collection – 87. (HRT) 1887 Alice Cornell Austen with Tristan Alice’s mother with their cat, Tristan, perhaps named for a character from the opera she saw as in this episode’s narrative. (HRT) 1890 letter from Alice’s mother Alice Cornell Austen tells of the opera Tristan & Isolde. (AAH) <img decoding="async" src="https://mydearalice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1890s_opera-1000px.jpeg" data-lazy-src="https://myde

33 min

Oct 5, 2022Episode 2

Chapter 2: 1880s Recreation

Chapter 2: 1880s Recreation (tennis-mania (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. 22-year-old Alice Austen in 1888 1888 portrait by Austen’s Uncle Oswald Muller. (HRT) Bradish Carroll letter The opening letter from this episode. Bradish Carroll danced the Santiago Waltz with Alice – it is the music from which this podcast theme music was derived. (AAH) 1888 Tennis Group Carrie Ward (top row, left); Nellie Janssen (top row, right); and Bradish Carroll (seated with cane.) (HRT) 1888 Dance Card Dance card showing Alice danced the Santiago Waltz with Bradish Carroll. (AAH) Emily Babbitt & Lieutenant Edwin Babbitt Alice’s tennis doubles partner with his wife, who wrote Alice congratulating her on winning her tennis match. (AAH) <img decoding="async" src="https://mydearalice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1888_emily-babbitt-750px.jpg" dat

38 min

Sep 28, 2022Episode 1

Chapter 1: Introductions

Chapter 1: Introductions (the story / the house / the characters / the letters) Image attributions: (HRT) Historic Richmond Town archive; (AAH) Alice Austen House Museum collection. Letter album at Historic Richmond Town Archive Album of 1830s through 1870s letters written by Sarah Ann & John Haggerty Austen Sarah Ann Austen Townsend in 1832 John Haggerty Austen’s 17-yr-old sister. Portrait, courtesy of the Frick Art Reference Library. (AI colorized) Alice’s grandmother, Elizabeth Alice Townsend Austen Alice Austen’s maternal grandmother, painted circa 1840 (HRT) David Austen Alice Austen’s paternal great-grandfather, painted in 1846 (HRT) Alice Cornell Townsend Alice Austen’s maternal great-grandmother, circa 1835. (HRT) <img decoding="async" src="https://mydearalice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/1877ish_600px.jpg" data-lazy-src="https://mydearalice.