When Wendy Woloson, guest curator of the Library Company’s 2012
Capitalism by Gaslight exhibition, selected an 1849 guidebook to Philadelphia’s
seamy underbelly—A Guide to the Stranger
—to
exhibit, she may not have realized how much attention it would get.
Subtitled Pocket Companion for the Fancy, Containing a List of the
Gay Houses and Ladies of Pleasure in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly
Affection, the guide was intended for men visiting Philadelphia. It helpfully provides the locations and
descriptions of the city’s brothels and rates the prostitutes who work in
each.
Once the exhibition was put on line in September, the Guide
was featured in Slate.com’s history blog, the Vault and received
recognition on PhillyNow.com. Philadelphia Magazine went so far as
to post current photographic views of some of the spicier locations mentioned
in the guide.
In December, the Philadelphia Daily News followed up with an
interview of Curator of Printed Books Rachel D’Agostino about the Guide, the related items in our
collections, and the ways the volume was distributed, understood, and used by
contemporaries. Read the complete text of the article.
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