ABSTRACT
Lange and her friend Florence Ahlstrom sought adventure; they decided to take a trip around the world against their parents’ wishes. The pair set off by boat in January of 1918, but they were first confined to New York Harbor. Authorities feared Germans might sink the boat. Their ship finally took them to New Orleans, where they toured. Lange remembered carrying their heavy suitcases; they did not have enough money to pay porters. Lange and Ahlstrom landed on their feet. Ahlstrom suggested they give the University of California at Berkeley a “whirl,” but Lange insisted on looking for work. “Extraordinary things happened to the author over that most unpromising counter,” she later said. Many artists and photographers doing commercial work went to Marsh’s. Lange built close friendships with other unusual men and women and nurtured professional relationships. She joined the San Francisco Camera Club, which she later described as full of “old fogies to whom has been a hobby.”.
