Welcome to Invisible Histories.
Today we had the pleasure to host a virtual interview with author Hanna Brooks Olsen about her recently published book, “Notoriously Bad Character: the true story of Lou Graham and the Immigrants and Sex Workers who built Seattle." The book is available through her webpage, www.hannabrooksolsen.com
Lou reigned supreme in what we now know as the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle in the late 1800s. Today, on Seattle’s Underground Tour and other guided history walks, the story of Lou Graham is often full of errors and exaggerations, and so we are grateful for Hanna’s research to bring the true stories of Lou to light, and inspire other researchers to try and find out more. So grab your favorite beverage, sink into your comfy chaise lounge and transport yourself to when the mysterious German immigrant Dorothea Ohben had just arrived in Seattle.
Show Notes:
LGBTQIA+ Archives: https://archive.lgbt/wiki/index.php/Madame_Louise_%22Lou%22_Graham_(1861-1903)
Hanna Brooks Olsen's webpage: hannabrooksolsen.com
Hanna's research for HistoryLink Tours: HistoryLink Tours — Union Gospel Mission/Former location of Lou Graham’s
Hanna's Seattle Met article: https://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-city-life/2022/08/lou-graham-brothel-madam-seattle-history-underground-tour
Madam Lou Graham arrives in Seattle in February 1888: https://www.historylink.org/File/2762
Image: Purported sex workers, Seattle ca. 1900, courtesy of Paul Dorpat.
Music: Music from Library of Congress: Wohlauf noch getrunken (To Wake Up Still Drunk) 1904 https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-714492/
Cari Simson and Elke Hautala formed Invisible Histories to visually and viscerally connect the public to experiences from the past. Their Invisible Histories podcast unearths diverse local stories and forgotten places. www.invisible-histories.com
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