Clear Comfort in Staten Island

By Linda Tancs

Alice Austen was one of the first women photographers in the U.S. to work outside the confines of a studio, a pioneer in the field of photojournalism. Her home in Staten Island, New York, was built in 1690 as a one-room Dutch farmhouse. Known as Clear Comfort, she lived there from the 1860s until 1945. Now a National Historic Landmark popularly known as Alice Austen House, it’s a house museum offering interpretation of her photographs, life and historic home. In celebration of International Women’s Day today, admission to the museum is free.