Scandal! Vice, crime and morality in Montreal, 1940-1960

Image courtesy of Archives de la Ville de Montréal

I can't decide how I feel about this. It's a piece of history and if your ancestor was one of these women you would likely be interested in her photo.

But I find it sad and feel that showing the photos in a sense dehumanizes these women even more.

An exhibit is scheduled to be shown which will include over 100 photographs of prostitutes and Madams in Montreal Quebec in the 1940s. The mug shots were entered as part of the Caron Inquiry of 1954 which was looking into corruption.

The exhibition Scandal! Vice, crime and morality in Montreal, 1940-1960 opens at the Centre d’histoire de Montréal on Nov. 15, 2013.

According to the museum's curator, the photos recently discovered in the Archives of Montreal are quite rare because the Madams did not usually allow photos of themselves.