Alice Austen

Alice Austen
Austen in Richmondtown, Staten Island on October 9, 1951, for her photo exhibition
Born	Elizabeth Alice Munn (1866-03-17)March 17, 1866 Rosebank, New York City, New York, United States
Died	June 9, 1952(1952-06-09) (aged 86) Staten Island
Resting place	Moravian Cemetery
Occupation	Photographer
Years active	1880s - 1930s
Parent(s)	Alice Cornell Austen (1836-?)

Elizabeth Alice Austen (March 17, 1866 – June 9, 1952) was a Staten Island photographer.

Austen's father abandoned the family before she was born, and she was baptized under the name Elizabeth Alice Munn on May 23, 1866, in St. John's Church on Staten Island. She never used the name Munn and would initial her negatives with "EAA" for Elizabeth Alice Austen. With no household income and no husband, Alice's mother moved back to her own parent's home, which was known as Clear Comfort. Alice was the only child in the household, which now consisted of: Alice's mother, Alice Cornell Austen (1836-?); Alice's maternal grandparents, John Haggerty Austen (c1800-?) and Elizabeth Alice Townsend (c1800-?). Also in the house were her mother's siblings: Peter Austen, who was a chemistry professor at Rutgers University; and Mary Austen (1840-?) aka Minnie Austen, who was married to Oswald Müller (1840-?) who was the owner of a shipping company. Oswald was born in Denmark.

The house was built in the 17th century, but was expanded during the 19th century by Alice's grandparents: John Haggerty Austen; and Elizabeth Alice Townsend. Clear Comfort was dedicated as a National Historic Landmark on April 8, 1976, one month after the 110th anniversary of Alice's birth. It is also known as "Alice Austen House" and is located in the Rosebank neighborhood.

Austen became interested in photography when her uncle, Oswald Müller, brought home a camera around 1876. Alice's uncle Peter Townsend Austen was a chemistry professor at Rutgers who taught her photographic processing. Peter and Oswald converted a closet on the second floor into Alice's darkroom. The earliest extant photograph by her is dated 1884. Over the next 40 years she produced around 8,000 photographs.

Austen's subject was daily life of the people of New York. She documented upper middle-class society on Staten Island and lower-class people living in New York's Lower East Side. Her images of immigrants showed "a hesitancy and curiosity experienced by both photographer and subject."

By 1900 her uncle Oswald was the head of household and the family had two servants: Katherine Wertz (1857-?); and Constance Rasmusth (1876-?). They also had a cook, Mary McDonald (1873-?).

In 1899 Austen met Gertrude Amelia Tate (1871–1962), a kindergarten teacher and dancing instructor of Brooklyn, New York. She became Austen's lifelong companion. Gertrude visited Alice regularly and they spent holidays together in Europe. She moved in with Alice at Clear Comfort in 1917, overriding her family's objection over her "wrong devotion" to Alice.