The Lancaster Vice Files
Each episode opens the secret files of anti-vice investigators to piece together the portrait of a person from the hidden history of prostitution, gambling, and drinking in Lancaster, Pennsylvania around 1900.
A century ago Lancaster was known as a "wide open" city for prostitution, gambling, drinking because city officials encouraged and participated in vice. An undercover investigation of vice in 1913 left behind extensive records documenting the personalities and politics of Lancaster's underground economy. Using these files, this podcast unearths the surprising variety of people who struggled and sometimes succeeded in vice.
The Lancaster Vice Files
Jennie Taylor, Proprietor of Disorderly Houses
The local newspapers of Lancaster, Pennsylvania wrote often about Jennie Taylor, the daughter of a formerly enslaved man. She made the papers when she was attacked by boyfriends, when she was arrested for public drunkenness or for running a "disorderly" house, and when she fought police officers. What do the unpublished Vice Files add to this publicity about Jennie Taylor? This episode focuses on how race shaped the public and secret sides of Jennie Taylor.
Writer and Producer: M. Alison Kibler
Narrator: Rachel Rubins
Research Team: Jayden LaCoe, Kylie Loughney, Rachel Rubins, Dylan Sykes
Geneological research by Hope Glidden
Financial Support from the Center for Sustained Engagement with Lancaster at Franklin & Marshall College
Additional Support from LancasterHistory