Tattoo shop hopes to leave imprint

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — If you looked into the face of a Maori tribesman in 19th-century New Zealand, you could see his entire life story told through his tattoos. The markings show such bits of life as his occupation and family lineage.

That snippet of tattoo history is part of the heritage of tattooing that C.W. "Chuck" Eldridge and his wife, Harriet Cohen, hope to impart through their business.

They opened The Tattoo Archive recently after they moved to Winston-Salem from Berkeley, Calif., in September.

Tattooing is part of the business, but the heart and soul of what Eldridge and Cohen do is collect, preserve and share knowledge from their archives about the history of tattooing. They maintain the Paul Rogers Research Center, a nonprofit that is built around Rogers' collection of photographs, tattoo design sheets and tattooing machines.