A Kansas girl ran off to join the circus and changed the tattoo world
3 hours ago
- Maud Stevens Wagner, born in Emporia, Kansas, ran off to join the circus and became a pioneering female tattoo artist in early 20th-century America.
- She met fellow tattoo artist Gus Wagner at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair (though the legendary 'date for a tattoo lesson' story is disputed), and they married and traveled the carnival circuit, bringing tattooing to middle America.
- The Wagners' hand-painted sideshow banner and memorabilia were discovered in an abandoned farmhouse in Cedar Point, Kansas, by a customer of modern tattoo artist Ron Dolecek, who later bought the banner.
- Maud Wagner's iconic 1907 photograph, often compared to the Mona Lisa, is one of the most downloaded tattoo images in the Library of Congress.
- Alan Govenar purchased and preserved the Wagner collection, donating it to the South Street Seaport Museum, recognizing its importance as the largest surviving body of early American tattoo material.
- Ron Dolecek placed proper headstones for Gus and Maud Wagner in Homestead Cemetery, Chase County, Kansas, marking their graves as 'America's first lady tattooer' and 'globetrotting tattooer.'