Earle Olsen
artist
My current project is a family history of art and life called Daddy-O. In it, I delve into my father’s career as a painter in 1950s New York City and the legacy of his secrets as a closeted gay man. I search for lost paintings and wrestle with his presence and absence in my childhood.
You’ll find more about Earle’s work on this website. You can find more of my writing about his work in the archive of my Substack, From Life. Or subscribe here.
A few early excerpts are published below.
Vital Records
Life stories depend on birth and deaths; they frame the narrative, so to speak, with a start and endpoint. But for genealogists and family historians, they are trickier than you’d think, even in the modern era (in the administrative sense of modern: ie. after governments starting keeping civil records, usually in the nineteenth century).