User:Dreamyshade/Tattoo history project

Many Wikipedia articles about tattooing are not well-written, have few citations, and do not have much information about the history of these practices. I believe this is because there are not many Wikipedia editors actively involved in improving and maintaining these articles. I'm working on this, and I'm interested in helping other people contribute to these articles as well.

User:Tamzin/content todo also has a list of tattoo-related projects!

Articles that need work

History

Revise structure and content

Tattoo - 1270 daily views - this is quite long and also kind of all over the place; some of the detail needs to be moved to the articles on more specific topics, then summarized in this main article
History of tattooing, especially section "Modern Western tattooing" - 400 daily views - all over the place and doesn't tell a coherent story - needs to be organized and rewritten
Tattoo artist - 120 daily views - needs rewriting, including the history of tattoo artists, along with needing fact-checking and more citations
Tattoo machine - 80 daily views - needs fact-checking and citations, along with reorganizing the article so that it's easier to follow

Expand content

American traditional - 190 daily views - add information about the origins and development of this style
Flash - 170 daily views - needs more detail about history and practices
- The images are claimed to be public domain, without any particular evidence for why. But the three dagger-themed drawings may not have been copyrightable, since the designs are variations on common themes in the old-school genre (scènes à faire).

Medical/health information

Tattoo removal - 140 daily views - some of this is decently sourced, but some of it needs fact-checking and citations
Permanent makeup - 130 daily views - needs fact-checking and citations
Process of tattooing - 60 daily views - needs fact-checking and citations
Health effects of tattoos - 40 daily views - needs fact-checking and citations

Artists

Don Ed Hardy - 520 daily views - career section needs fact-checking and citations
Samuel Steward - 70 daily views - career section needs citations
George Burchett - 14 daily views - fact-check, add info
Franklin Paul Rogers - 5 daily views - add more info!
Sutherland Macdonald - 8 daily views - add more info
Bert Grimm - add more info about work and influence

Notable figures without articles

Alfred Charles South - link redirects to "tattoo machine" but should be its own article
Bob Shaw (tattoo artist)
Gib "Tatts" Thomas
Jeoly - link redirects to "tattoo" but should be its own article; take info from "history of tattooing" and split into its own article, then condense material in history article

Less important articles

Not in bad shape, could be improved, but not as important as the topics above.

Animal tattoo - last section is more of an essay; should it be deleted?
Blackout tattoo - medical information should be cited to medical journals instead of magazine articles, if possible; could use a photo or two
Knuckle tattoo - needs more history and context
List of tattoo artists - could use more consistency in how people are described
Samuel O'Reilly - would benefit from more information about the machines he invented
Soundwave tattoos - this probably does not need to be its own article - we could just have a single sentence in the tattoo article about this idea, or write a new article about copyright aspects of tattoos and include this concept
Tattooed lady - decent information, but sounds too much like an essay about respectability
Tom Riley (tattoo artist) - are there any records of his year of death?

Articles in decent shape

These are examples of articles in adequate shape, with coherent writing, some depth of research, fact-checking with citations to reliable sources, and appropriate illustrations. They can still use improvement though, including review by experts in tattoo history and relevant medical topics.

Topics

Cover-up tattoo - good article
Medical tattoo
Sailor tattoos - had a peer review
Tattoo ink
UV tattoo

People

Amund Dietzel - featured in DYK
Martin Hildebrandt

Books

Caplan, Jane, ed. (2000). Written on the body: the tattoo in European and American history. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-05722-4.
- History of individual identity
DeMello, Margo (2000). Bodies of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-2467-6.
- Cultural anthropology
DeMello, Margo (2014). Inked: Tattoos and Body Art around the World. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1-61069-076-8.
Friedman, Anna Felicity (2015). The World Atlas of Tattoo. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300210-48-4.
Lane, David C. (2020). The Other End of the Needle: Continuity and Change Among Tattoo Workers. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-1-9788-0747-1.
- Sociology
Mifflin, Margot (2013). Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo. Powerhouse Books.
Miranda, Michelle D. (2015). Forensic Analysis of Tattoos and Tattoo Inks. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4987-3643-5.
- Forensic science

To look into:

Barron, Lee (2017). Tattoo Culture: Theory and Contemporary Contexts. Rowman & Littlefield International Limited. ISBN 978-1-78348-826-1.
Ellis, Juniper (2008). Tattooing the World: Pacific Designs in Print and Skin. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231143691.
Lodder, Matt (2022). Painted People – Humanity in 21 Tattoos. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-840206-8.
Krutak, Lars F.; Deter-Wolf, Aaron, eds. (2017). Ancient Ink: The Archaeology of Tattooing. McLellan Endowed Series (1st ed.). Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-74282-3.
Thomas, Nicholas; Cole, Anna; Douglas, Bronwen (2005). Tattoo: Bodies, Art and Exchange in the Pacific and the West. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-86189-823-4.