maier worked as a nanny and housekeeper in chicago.r own time, a roleflex strapped to her neck, she indulged her secret talent-- taking pictures. remarkable pictures. this woman was not an amateur. >> no. i don't think she ever made a penny from her photographs, but she certainly was no amateur. >> reporter: howard greenberg is a leading photography dealer. tonight his gallery is opening the first major exhibition of maier's pictures in new york. >> she never showed them to anyone. nobody knew she was making the photographs. she did them by herself, for herself for reasons we can only guess at. >> reporter: and we might never have seen them if not for john maloof. >> the box i bought was the biggest box they had of negatives, and it was loaded to the top. >> reporter: a few years ago maloof, a real estate agent, saw them at a chicago auction house. >> rolls and rolls of undeveloped film. her storage locker had delinquent payments, so what they do is auction the stuff off. >> reporter: he bid $400 hoping to find some shots of the city f

ladies and gentlemen, pauline maier. [applause] >> thank you for that lovely introduction, which actually will lead very beautifully and do exactly what i hope to talk about when i intend to talk about tonight. but let me first say how delighted and honored i am to be here tonight, and to be the recipient of this distinguished award. although i think i have written books on some significance in my field over a career which is getting to be, what do we say, long in tooth? i have never won any book awards until the publication of "ratification" so i feel immensely gratified, and to receive a prize for a book that concerns liberty is especially moving. what could be more important? and, of course, hearing about the early recipients of this nation understand this is not a prize in american history. it is in a much larger sphere. and i will say that the one criticism i have received of this book from a professor at yale law school is that i underestimate the significance of the ratification debates when i said that they were