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NORA HILDEBRANDT – The First Tattooed Lady
Nora Hildebrandt was America’s first professional tattooed lady. Her place in history is due mostly to the fact that her father, German born Martin Hildebrandt, was America’s first professional tattoo artist. Nora stood in as a canvas for her father when he was not tattooing sailors and soldiers from both sides of the Civil War.
Nora’s fabricated tale proved to entertain audiences but she eventually discounted it and regaled audiences instead with the details of the work done by her father while displaying her body for all to see.
She proved a very popular attraction among men. However her fame was rather short lived as another attractive tattooed lady debuted shortly after her. Irene Woodward quickly eclipsed Nora’s spotlight and Nora’s exact fate is still lost to history.
Image: 1942 reproduction of an Eisenmann cabinet card.
© 2006 – 2008, J Tithonus Pednaud. All rights reserved.
- Tattoos : Taboo turned Mainstream Beauty | Atlanta Salon & Spa
- Nora Hildebrandt: la Prima Lady Tatuata | Bodyart-draconia
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RECOMMENDED READING
American Sideshow: An Encyclopedia
Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit
Sideshow U.S.A.: Freaks and the American Cultural Imagination
Freaks, Geeks, and Strange Girls
Pickled Punks & Girlie Shows: A Life Spent on the Midways of America
The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton: A True Story of Conjoined Twins
The Circus Age: Culture and Society under the American Big Top
Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body
James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed: On & Off the Midway
THE AUTHOR
J Tithonus Pednaud has dedicated this site to highlighting the remarkable lives of those born exceedingly different. These so-called freaks and human oddities stand as uplifting testaments to human spirit and serve as inspiring examples of human tenacity.
4 Responses to “NORA HILDEBRANDT – The First Tattooed Lady”
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Hi, thank you so much for digging up this story, as a modern heavily tattooed woman I am very interested in learning about those beautiful ladies who came before me :)