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Charlotte Cushman (1816-1876) and Matilda Hays (1820-1897)
Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation
Pleasantville, United States
Actress Charlotte Cushman and writer-actress Matilda Hays lived together for ten years. According to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the two had a wedding ceremony, vowing celibacy and eternal attachment. When they moved to Italy, Hays had an affair with sculptress Harriet Hosmer. Cushman then fell in love with a sculptress of her own: Emma Stebbins. The lesbian marriage ended in tumult; Cushman agreed to pay Hays a substantial amount in damages.
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Details
- Title: Charlotte Cushman (1816-1876) and Matilda Hays (1820-1897)
- Physical Dimensions: Gelatin silver print of a daguerreotype (printed later)
- Subject Keywords: Actress
- Type: Photograph
- Date: ca. 1855
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