Original Photograph of a Bearded Woman and Husband

[CDV of Viola Myers, Bearded Woman, with Her Husband Amos]

Mahon, James (photographer)

Notes: Viola E. Myers (6 June 1854 to 24 April 1931) was born in Wilcox, Pennsylvania and in the 1870s and 1880s was the best-known bearded woman in the US. In 1883, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch declared Madame Meyers (as she was also known) "the best bearded woman in the business" (February 15). She was married to a sideshow ticket taker, Amos Myers. Myers appears to have worked the sideshow circuit off and on for many years, often doing astrology readings (her profession on US census reports and her death certificate is given as "planet reader").

An extended profile of Myers accompanied by a portrait can be found in the April 1877 issue of the Archives of Dermatology. She was also mentioned in Geoge Henry Fox's The Use of Electricity in the Removal of Superfluous Hair (1886). A pamphlet about her appeared in 1878 with the title: Madame Viola, the Bearded Lady.

2-7/16 by 4-1/8 inches. Original photograph on medium-thickness mount. With spots of handcoloring.

Edition + Condition: Upper corners of mount clipped; small stain at bottom left; medium contrast image on James Mahon mount.

Publication: Columbia, TN: James Mahon, (ca. 1880).

Item No: #306901

Price: $300