Through the Lens of the Only Man Allowed to Photograph It
A rare, intimate glimpse into a world where desire was forbidden and the body was both a sin and a muse.
They called it the world’s oldest profession, yet for centuries, society treated it as its most shameful secret. Brothels were whispered about but rarely acknowledged — their red doors closed not just to outsiders, but to history itself. Until one man stepped inside with a camera.
William I. Goldman, a photographer and advertising man from Reading, Pennsylvania, was a respected figure in his community — charming, successful, and a lifelong bachelor. But behind his polished exterior, Goldman was drawn to the discreet allure of a certain high-class bordello owned by Sallie Shearer, one of the town’s most infamous madams.
A Hidden World Behind Velvet Curtains
In the late 19th century, Reading was booming. The construction of the railroad brought workers, travelers, and businessmen — and with them, a thriving sex trade. The city’s streets filled with women who sold pleasure in rented rooms or small apartments. But for the wealthy, indulgence took a more refined form.
Sallie Shearer’s establishment catered to the elite: soft lamplight, silk sheets, and women who knew the art of seduction as well as they knew survival. The men who crossed her threshold came seeking escape — a night of whispered pleasure far from the puritanical rules that governed daylight hours.
Among them was Goldman. The bordello was just ten minutes from his studio, and he was soon not just a client, but a confidant.
The Photographer’s Secret
Goldman’s fascination with the women went beyond lust. He wanted to capture them — not as society saw them, but as he did: unashamed, unmasked, beautifully human.
The women trusted him. In a world where they were often reduced to shadows, he gave them space to be seen. They posed for him nude or half-dressed, their gazes direct, defiant, sometimes playful. His photographs were for no one but himself, hidden in an album he never intended to show the world.
Taken around 1892, the images are strikingly intimate — raw yet refined, sensual yet dignified. Later critics would compare them to the works of Degas and Manet: portraits not of scandal, but of truth.
A Century-Old Secret Revealed
For decades, no one knew the photographs existed. Only Goldman and the women in them shared that secret. After his death in 1922, the album lay untouched — until 2018, when photo historian Robert Flynn Johnson discovered and published the collection.
The images caused a sensation. They were more than erotic relics; they were a rare, fearless glimpse into the hidden world of 19th-century sex work — a world that dared to exist despite moral judgment and repression.
Goldman’s photographs revealed what words of his time could not: the quiet strength and sensuality of women who lived by society’s rules by day and defied them by night.
More than a century after his death, the bachelor photographer who once slipped unnoticed into a brothel became known for capturing what the world wasn’t yet ready to see — the beauty of forbidden desire.