Overview
- John Ahlhauser photographed Marilyn Monroe in Milwaukee in 1949 during a roughly 30‑minute studio session that produced seven negatives.
- In late May 2026 the Ahlhauser family placed five previously unseen negatives up for sale through Heritage Auctions while keeping two images from the session.
- Ahlhauser put his work into a trust in 2011 and his children began sorting the archive after his death in 2016, a process that prompted the recent decision to sell some items.
- The family has said buyers may market the photos and that legal questions over copyright and image rights could affect how the negatives are used.
- The release, timed for Monroe’s centennial, highlights the photographer’s broader archive and the family’s plan to transfer parts of his holdings to institutional care such as the Milwaukee Public Library.