[Alice & Gertrude in their later Years]

A portrait of Alice Austen and Gertrude Tate, also a testament to the life they spent together and those moments of joy as well as their struggles. The two met in 1899 - Gertrude was a dance instructor and kindergarten teacher - and Gertrude moved into Clear Comfort in 1917.

A year after this photo was taken, they lost their home (due to Alice's ongoing financial troubles post-Great Depression) and moved into an apartment in the nearby St. George neighborhood. A few years later, they were separated when Gertrude broke her arm in a fall and could no longer care for her aging partner. With Gertrude living in Queens, NY with family, Alice moved from nursing home to nursing home until she took the pauper's oath in 1950 and entered the Staten Island Farm Colony. She was later released and moved to a nursing home thanks to profits she made off her early photographs.

Alice passed away in 1952 at the age of 86. Gertrude died ten years later.