Prostitution and Illicit Sex in Baltimore, Commercialized Vice, Report of the Maryland Vice Commission, 1916

I first came across the Maryland Vice Commission reports while researching my novel Into the Suffering City, set in 1909 Baltimore. The Maryland Department of the Enoch Pratt Free Library held the only extant copies, which existed on typescript pages. Contemporary Baltimore City officials suppressed the reports and most of the findings were never published.

The reports, full of detailed information about all aspects of the sex trade, deeply embarrassed city leaders. Hundreds of sex workers are interviewed, and there is substantial information about the complicity of businesses, the police, and other elements of the municipal establishment.

In looking at the reports, one can only conclude that prostitution was thriving, widespread, and deeply entrenched in Baltimore, as it was elsewhere. This information is pure gold for anyone interested in what life was like in an early twentieth-century American city. Many women are quoted about their reasons for getting into “the life,” and a novelist is hard-pressed to match their words. “Hustled and entered a house because the streets were cold;” “I lived for some time with an actor, who induced me to go into the life;” “went wrong at 17, then left home and got a room, then entered the life;” “I was born crooked.”

Rich detail is also available about how and where sex workers plied their trade. Bordellos played an important role, but so did saloons, entertainment districts, and “houses of assignation” (short-term rental rooms).

During my research, I photographed hundreds of pages from the unpublished reports. In the interest of making this material more widely available, I offer the first report, “Commercialized. The first commission report is now available as a free PDF (ISBN 978-1-7345678-5-4), Prostitution and Illicit Sex in Baltimore, Commercialized Vice, Report of the Maryland Vice Commission, 1916.