Leather Archives & Museum: 25 Years

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LEATHER
ARCHIVES
&
MUSEUM:
25 YEARS
1991-2016
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Copyright © 2016 by the Leather Archives & Museum
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any
manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the
use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.
First Printing: 2016
ISBN 978-0-692-80656-2
Edited by Jakob VanLammeren and Jose Santiago Perez
Leather Archives & Museum
6418 N. Greenview Ave.
Chicago, Illinois 60626
www.leatherarchives.org
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CONTENTS
Excerpt from “Report from the President.”
Leather Archives & Museum News, Vol. 1 No. 1. May 1994………..4
Preface…………………………………………………………………………….12
INTRODUCTION
“On 25 Years of Leather History”
by Chuck Renslow……………………………………………………….17
“Twenty Five Years of Leather History as Evidence”
by Rick Storer…………………………………………………………….21
LOOKING BACK
“The Leather Archives & Museum:
Some Pre-History” by Dr. Gayle Rubin… ………………..…………...25
“Foundations: Dom Orejudos,
the Artist Etienne” by Dwight Skeates…………………………..……..35
“From the LA&M Collections:
A Photo Essay” by Jose Santiago Perez...……………………………40
“Memory and the Power of Place:
Meditations on Archives and Community at the LA&M”
by Jakob VanLammeren………………………………………………..55
LOOKING FORWARD
Program Highlight: Women’s Leather History Program……………………...63
Collections Highlight: Sailor Sid Piercing Collection………………………….64
Exhibition Highlight: Excavating Experience:
Presence of LGBTQ People of Color in Cook County, IL……………67
Research Highlight:
Visiting Scholar Program………………………………………………..68
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“Reflections on the 2014/2015 Visiting Scholar Program”
by Lily Emerson, 2014/2015 Visiting Scholar…………………………69
GRATITUDE
Top 10 Donors……...……………………………………………………………75
Current Members and Donors……………………………….…………………76
Board of Directors: 25 Years of Service……………………………….…..….80
25 Years of Staff…………………………………………………….…………...82
Volunteers and Interns…………………………………………………………..83
Image Credits…………………………………..………………………………...89
Sponsors……………………………………………………………………….....98
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PREFACE
O
ur collective, personal, and institutional histories and memories are material, embodied,
and linguistic. Objects, however, deteriorate over time. The body eventually expires.
And language is often unstable. History and memory, then, are never static or
definitive.
The stories we tell ourselves often shift and change depending on their context -- when their
told and under what circumstances. Our histories and collective memories are always dynamic
and subject to critical commentary, re/vision, and retelling.
The institutional memory of the Leather Archives & Museum is similarly complex and any attempt
to encapsulate a quarter century of institutional life will always be partial, in both senses
of the word. This catalog, Leather Archives & Museum: 25 Years, is not intended as a comprehensive
account of the archival, programmatic, and exhibition history of the LA&M. The occasion
of our 25 th Anniversary, however, affords us an opportunity to pause and reflect on this
institution’s trajectory – where it’s been, where it is, and what it might become – as well as
highlight a handful of stops along its unfolding narrative.
In Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity (2009), the late queer and performance
theorist Jose Esteban Munoz suggests that in order to imagine and envision a (queer)
future, we must perform the simultaneous double-optics of looking back and gazing forward in
the present moment. In this catalog we attempt to do that through its form and content. We also
recognize the importance of multiple ‘gazings’ and include the critical reflections and meditations
of various contributors.
Leather Archives & Museum: 25 Years is organized into four sections. The “Introduction” includes
statements by Founder and President, Chuck Renslow, and Executive Director, Rick
Storer. “Looking Back” is a collection of essays by cultural anthropologist and founding board
member, Dr. Gayle Rubin, Toronto-based community volunteer, Dwight Skeates, and Archivist
and Collections Librarian, Jakob VanLammeren. This section also includes a photo essay by
Patron Services Representative, José Santiago Pérez. “Looking Forward” attempts to lay the
groundwork for envisioning the LA&M’s possible futures by surveying present or recent institutional
milestones and achievements. In “Gratitude” we end this ‘partial telling’ by reflecting and
acknowledging the fierce commitment, passion, dedication, and contributions of those that
support the LA&M’s mission to collect, preserve, maintain, and exhibit our leather histories.
The sections that comprise Leather Archives & Museum: 25 Years are a testament of how far
we’ve come since the LA&M’s inception at the International Mr. Leather contest in 1992. What
began as Chuck Renslow’s mission to preserve the legacy and memory of Dom Orejudos/
Etienne and leather history amidst the AIDS crisis has now evolved into a respected and professional
institution at the forefront of Leather/kink/BDSM/fetish scholarship, research, and collections.
Currently these materials are comprised of artifacts, objects, letters, documents, art-
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works, published materials, leathers, ephemera, and stories. We can only dream what the future
holds—the continual shifts and evolutions in identity, codes, and subcultures within alternative
and radical sex communities will generate collections and materials we cannot yet begin
to imagine. What we are sure of is that, with your continued support, the Leather Archives &
Museum will thrive in its mission and vision to preserve this future history for generations of
kinky people to come.
Jakob VanLammeren and José Santiago Pérez
Editors
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INTRODUCTION
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FROM THE FOUNDER:
ON 25 YEARS OF LEATHER HISTORY
This year the Leather Archives and Museum celebrates its 25 th
anniversary. Officially, LA&M began in 1991, but the real story
is much older. It began in the 1950's when my partner, Dom
Orejudos, and I opened Kris Studios. Through Dom's artistic
ingenuity and my photography skills we produced photo sets of
bodybuilders – beefcake, the predecessor of gay porn. We took
the best of these photos back home to our basement for
packaging and fulfillment. Unfortunately, a sewer flood in the
1960's destroyed the best of the negatives and left me very
aware of the necessity for safe storage.
As the artist Etienne, Dom continued to produce drawings and
paintings starting in the 1950's and continuing until his too early
death in 1991. A noted erotic artist, Dom's art had been used
to promote and identify a number of businesses around the
world, including our own International Mr. Leather, The Gold
Coast Leather Bar and Man’s Country Baths. Left with this
treasure trove of sketches and finished pieces, and concerned
about their preservation, I began contacting art museums in
Chicago, San Francisco and New York. Each
museum expressed an interest, but they all wanted
to pick and choose which pieces they'd accept into
their collections. I felt it better to keep the entire
collection intact. I decided to create a foundation
to hold Dom's art.
During a conversation with my good friend and
Drummer publisher, Tony DeBlase, I mentioned
the foundation. Tony talked me down. He felt
foundations didn't last. “What you need is a
museum,” he suggested. By the time that
conversation ended, the concept of LA&M was
born. In addition to all of Etienne's art, I'd pledged
my Gold Coast, IML and Kris Studios archives and
Tony pledged his archives from Drummer
Magazine.
Our first museum was a storefront at 5013 N. Clark
Street, next door to my bathhouse and my
office. It had a small display area and larger back
storage room which quickly overflowed with other
collections and donations arriving every week. We
were in the thick of the AIDS epidemic and with
each death, families and friends were unknowingly
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tossing our history into dumpsters. That
there was a safe place to conserve that
history simply made more sense. I asked
Barry Johnson to join us on the first board of
directors and we hired our first curator,
Joseph Bean. In no time, the museum was
useless as the archives filled every space.
Both Tony and I strongly believed we
needed to own the building housing the
collection. If that property was owned by a
tax exempt 501 c(3) non-profit, it would be
free from real estate and other taxes. We
eventually located the old Greenview Center
for the Performing Arts which had occupied
an even older Jewish synagogue. We
needed $60,000 for the down payment but
only had $3,000. From the IML stage,
Joseph Bean made an emotional appeal for
funds and we passed the baskets. Through
the generosity of the leather men and
women assembled that night, we raised an
incredible $58,000 in cash, checks and
pledges. Within a few months the building
was ours.
A short 5 years later we were facing a
balloon payment and again turned to the
leather/fetish community for assistance. I
honestly don't know how we did it but when
the smoke cleared it was the smoke coming
from a mortgage burning ceremony. With
the help of a lot of dedicated people and
through the generosity of the entire
community, we owned 6418 N. Greenview
free and clear.
While its hard to top the mortgage burning
ceremony, we can be proud of the continued
good work done in the name of the leather/
fetish community. Day-to-day, the work of
the Leather Archives and Museum continues
both to save our history and make it available
to the public as a whole.
Chuck Renslow
Founder/President
Leather Archives & Museum
April 2016
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FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:
TWENTY FIVE YEARS OF LEATHER HISTORY AS EVIDENCE
When I reflect on twenty-five years of Leather History at the LA&M, I see evidence:
Evidence that we can achieve great things when a community comes together working
toward one goal
Evidence that we grow by leaps and bounds when we pay attention to inclusiveness
Evidence that kinky people under 35 thirst to know where they came from
Evidence that people and organizations donate collections and resources with many
different motivations and they are all valid.
Evidence that we can fuck and care at the same time
This evidence confirms what I already know about the history of the LA&M. This institution
was built by a community from the ground up. More importantly, this evidence provides
clues about the next twenty-five years of Leather History and the LA&M. As society
demands justice for all, as kinky people continue to seek sexual freedom and
enlightenment, as scholars fill their journals and lectures with leather culture, and as sexual
adventurers seek acceptance of their fierce independence, evidence is always key.
In the next twenty-five years, evidence will be used as a weapon against anti-sex rhetoric
and hearsay. Evidence will be used as a tool to disprove harmful stereotypes. Evidence
will be used as a light to illuminate beautiful people and organizations that are still hidden
and concealed. Evidence will be used as a loudspeaker to amplify who we are, what we
do, and the undeniable pride in ourselves. The LA&M was built to acquire, save and
provide access to this evidence. I am agog to witness the amazing things we will achieve
together using our evidence.
Happy 25th Anniversary LA&M!
Rick Storer
Executive Director
July 2016
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LOOKING BACK
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THE LEATHER ARCHIVES & MUSEUM:
SOME PRE-HISTORY
T
he LA&M is one of the most
significant accomplishments of the
late 20 th century movement for the
rights, dignity, improved status, and selfacceptance
of the leather and kink
populations. And I will be forever grateful to
Chuck Renslow and Tony DeBlase for their
key roles in making one of my most
cherished dreams come true. I hope some
of the pre-history and early history of the
institution can provide a perspective on its
importance. What follows is not a
comprehensive account of the early history
of the LA&M, but rather those aspects in
which I was involved and of which I have
direct knowledge.
When I began collecting, compiling, and
documenting leather history in the late
1970s, it was a more or less unthinkable
project, for several reasons. There was the
pervasive stigmatization of the community
and its assortment of sexual practices. In
turn, this general disreputability was largely
responsible for the way knowledge about
these sexualities and its practitioners was
produced and circulated. At the academic
level, SM and fetishism were considered
mental diseases, and were mainly
addressed in the psychiatric literature. At
the popular level, most writing about
leather, SM, and fetishism was published
as porn. There were exceptions, such as
Terry Andrews’ Story of Harold, The Real
Thing by William Carney, the fiction of Phil
Andros (Sam Steward), and of course,
Larry Townsend’s The Leathermen’s
Handbook. But these were relatively rare,
and both Steward and Townsend’s books
were produced and marketed as porn. So
was Drummer, the most significant of the
leather magazines. Pauline Reage’s Story
of O, then one of the most notable works of
(predominantly) heterosexual SM erotica,
was published by Olympia Press, which
occupied a kind of netherworld between
pornography and avant-garde fiction.
One of the largest impediments to
developing any sort of credible leather
history was the scarcity of primary source
material. The kinds of research libraries
and archives that make serious historical
work possible did not collect leather and
SM materials. Again, there
were exceptions, such as the Kinsey
Institute in Bloomington, Indiana, to which I
soon made the first of several pilgrimages.
In addition, there was a nascent interest
within leather communities on their history.
Some of the then-active leather
organizations began to feature programs
on aspects of leather history. Among the
most important of these was New York’s
GMSMA (Gay Male SM Activists), founded
in 1980. For example, in 1982, one of
GMSMA’s early programs was on SM in
New York City in the 1950s. This panel
discussion featured some of the founders
of the New York leather scene. It was
recorded, and I had it transcribed; it
remains an invaluable document of early
leather life in the US. Earlier in 1982,
GMSMA had a program on SM art and
artists. This was presented by Louis
Weingarden, who ran Stompers, a boot
store and leather art gallery in New York’s
Greenwich Village. Weingarden and his
gallery were on the leading edge of a
resurrection of gay male leather art in the
late 1970s and early 1980s. Stompers
hosted the first Tom of Finland show in the
United States, as well as shows featuring
artists such as Steve Masters, Kenneth
Anger, Quaintance, Blade, Colt, Rex, Olaf,
Domino, Brick, Lou Rudolph, and Etienne.
However, in 1978 when I rather quixotically
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undertook a dissertation project on the history
and social organization of gay male leather
and SM in San Francisco, the primary
material was sparse and relatively
inaccessible to researchers. Most of what did
exist was in private hands: garages, attics,
trunks, and dresser drawers. And that was
just what people had kept or admitted to
having. A lot of irreplaceable documentation
had already been thrown away, or was
considered an embarrassment.
This situation was not an unfamiliar one for
those of us who had already been working on
gay and lesbian histories. When I came out,
circa 1970, I immediately wanted to learn
about lesbianism and spent a few years
absorbing whatever sources I could locate.
Like leather, lesbianism and male
homosexuality had long been classified as
psychiatric problems, so most of the scholarly
literature consisted of medical texts on the
diagnosis and treatment of these “diseases.”
There were also pornography, pulp fiction,
and some serious literature (including a
handful of books such as The Price of Salt,
Patricia Highsmith’s pseudonymously
published novel, recently made into the
feature film Carol, 2015). The gay liberation
and radical feminist press was in its earliest
phases, producing at that point mainly
leaflets, manifestos, and newspapers. In
addition, there was the considerable body of
research and analytic work that had been
generated by the homophile movement and
its press: the Mattachine Review, One, The
Ladder, and The One Institute Quarterly:
Homophile Studies. The homophile era
researchers had also begun to assemble
both bibliographies and actual libraries of gay
and lesbian books and periodicals. However,
even the homophile publications, despite
their importance, were rarely collected by
major research institutions, and the
homophile era library collections were mostly
in storage. Until the 1970s, these gay and
lesbian sources were scarce, difficult to find,
and largely inaccessible.
Like many of the then mostly young gay
liberation era scholars, I quickly ran up
against the lack of sources and the dearth of
institutional repositories for the
LGBT knowledges that had been
accumulated by our predecessors. With the
emergence of gay liberation, the older library
projects enjoyed something of a renaissance,
and something new emerged as well:
community based collections of archival
documents, art and artifacts. One of the first
of these in the United States was the Lesbian
Herstory Archives (LHA), inaugurated in
1974, and housed for many years in the New
York City apartment of Joan Nestle and Deb
Edel. I first heard about the LHA when I ran
into Joan and Deb at a conference of the Gay
Academic Union, also in New York City,
probably in 1976. Two years later, when I
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moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to start
my leather project, I fell in with the newly
formed San Francisco Lesbian and Gay
History Project. This was a loose assortment
of people investigating various aspects of
queer history, and almost all of us found that
in order to do our research, we also had to
become collectors. In contrast to most
historians, who can go to established
archives maintained by entities such as
governments, universities, and private
foundations, we had to engage in a process
of primary accumulation of sources. Many of
the members of this History Project, such as
popular heyday, almost every bar or retail
outlet patronized by fisting aficionados
provided emery boards, so that people could
work on their manicures while having a drink
or picking up their mail. So I collected emery
boards. I assembled a complete run of
Drummer, and began to subscribe to
publications such as DungeonMaster and
PFIQ. I amassed a small library of leather
related books.
At the time, there was really nowhere to
deposit this growing collection of research
materials, since neither the Gay Lesbian
Allan Berube and Eric Garber, began to haunt
garage sales and used bookstores in search
of evidence of San Francisco’s queer past.
Berube’s project on gay men and lesbians
during World War II began when someone
cleaning out an apartment found a box of
letters and knew enough to turn it over to
Allan. This happy accident lead to Allan’s
1990 book, Coming Out Under Fire.
As the only person in the History Project
working on leather and SM (at that time
extremely controversial and severely
stigmatized even in LGBT contexts), I began
to collect SM and leather materials: books,
periodicals, manuscripts, art work, ephemera,
and artifacts. Much of the history of leather
social events then was recorded in artifacts,
such as commemorative pins from motorcycle
runs. So I collected lots and lots of run pins.
Because cigarette smoking was still
ubiquitous, almost every gay bar and
restaurant, including those that catered to the
leather population, provided matchbooks with
their logos and addresses. So I collected
matchbooks. Since fisting was in its most
Bisexual Transgender Historical Society
(GLBTHS) in San Francisco nor the Leather
Archives & Museum yet existed. Much of
what would become the basis of the GLBTHS
periodicals collection was stored in the small
apartment of Willie Walker, one of its eventual
founders. My collection began to occupy an
extra bedroom, then two. What is now the
One Archives was still mostly in storage,
although in 1979 it was opened as the Natalie
Barney/Edward Carpenter Library in a
Hollywood storefront. That storefront doubled
as the living quarters of its custodian, Jim
Kepner, who slept on a cot in the basement.
When the storefront closed, the collection
went back into storage. These kinds of
situations were clearly unsustainable as long
term arrangements. Moreover, even once the
GLBTHS and the LA&M were finally
established (the GLBTHS in 1985 and the
LA&M in 1992), they were underfunded,
poorly housed, had little or no staff, and were
extremely unstable.
My experience in the emerging worlds of
GLBT history had taught me the importance
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of such institutions for sexually marginal
communities. It was clear that if we did not
collect and preserve our source materials, no
one else would. It was equally clear that it
was not enough for individuals to undertake
the work of accumulation, and that durable
institutions were required to guarantee the
long term survival, preservation, and usability
of such collections. Furthermore, for such
institutions to endure, they required money:
for operating funds, buildings, supplies, and
staff. At some point I realized that leather
peoples needed our own community based
archives, similar to those that had begun to
spring up for GLBT collections. So I began to
speak about the need for such a project and
to pester anyone I knew about how to make it
happen. One of those was Tony (Anthony F.)
DeBlase.
I had gotten to know Tony DeBlase in 1979,
when he first began to publish
DungeonMaster. I got to know him better
when he and Andy Charles bought Drummer
and moved to the Bay Area in 1986. Tony
was a leather activist and visionary, among
whose many accomplishments were the
introduction of the leather pride flag and the
establishment of leather pride week in San
Francisco. He was also a leather intellectual,
and was someone who thought deeply about
leather knowledge and its transmission. Tony
had a PhD in mammalogy, with a specialty in
bats. He had authored A Manual of
Mammalogy (2001) as well as a book on the
bats of Iran. Having worked in natural history
museums, including several years when he
was employed at the Field Museum in
Chicago, he had a great deal of experience
with academic research collections.
When Tony discovered his interests in SM
and Leather, he turned his well honed
scholarly habits to the intensive study of SM
technique. And once he acquired his
considerable expertise, he began a long
career of teaching it. He came up with the
idea of “SandMutopia University,” a fantasy
college of all things kinky. He conducted and
organized countless workshops and classes,
and envisioned DungeonMaster as a kind of
professional technical journal of
sadomasochism.
In 1986, a group of leather activists in Seattle
founded the National Leather Association
(NLA) and kicked off a new era of national
leather political and social mobilization.
Through its “Living in Leather” weekends, the
NLA pioneered the format of the “leather
conference,” with workshops, plenary
sessions, and dungeon parties. Such
conferences– later dubbed “leatherathons”–
were something new. There were of course
SM educational groups, but these generally
held meetings once or twice a month. The
gay motorcycle clubs sponsored weekend
bike runs featuring socializing, entertainment,
and plenty of partying. And there was the
Chicago Hellfire Club’s legendary annual
Inferno. But Inferno was by invitation only,
restricted to men, and the educational
workshops (of which DeBlase was also a
major organizer) were adjuncts to the main
event, the extensive dungeon party. By
contrast, anyone could register for Living in
Leather, which was open to both men and
women, and whose workshops were as
important as the parties.
Tony and I were among those who
enthusiastically welcomed the formation of
NLA, and participated in most of its early
events. We both attended the first Living In
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Leather, and the subsequent “May Day”
event, in Seattle. Tony began to actively
promote the NLA in the pages of Drummer.
At the third Living in Leather (Portland, 1988),
Tony, Geoff Mains, Sheree Rose and I did a
panel on the “History of Leather/SM
Organizations. The description read: “What
are the historic roots of our current
organizations? Who were the founders, what
were the goals then, and have they been
achieved?”
The emergence of the NLA did not go
unchallenged. Regional rivalries quickly
surfaced. Some activists from New York,
primarily from GMSMA, did not recognize the
NLA as a legitimate vehicle for the national
movement. They began working to set up a
competing organization. This jockeying for
leadership of the emerging national leather
constituency led to the acrimonious and
largely disastrous meeting in Dallas, Texas,
in the winter of 1989.
Instead of supporting either the existing NLA
or the GMSMA plan, the Dallas meeting
produced another organization, dubbed
SSCA (Safe Sane Consensual Adults). The
SSCA was doomed from the outset. Its
structure was an attempt at a compromise of
the competing visions, but the result was a
clumsy hybrid that pleased no one. Although
SSCA had been designed to appease the
GMSMA contingent and maintain its
involvement, GMSMA and its allied groups
(mainly East Coast and predominantly gay
male) almost immediately withdrew their
support, and appeared to be as hostile
toward SSCA as they had been toward the
NLA. With the collapse of the compromise,
SSCA was absorbed into the NLA.
Unfortunately, the NLA was forced to
incorporate the untenable structural features
of SSCA that had been adopted on behalf of
a partnership that no longer existed, and
which NLA had neither wanted nor needed.
However, along with its awkward structure,
SSCA had formalized a statement of purpose
that included an explicit commitment to
leather history, and this goal was injected into
the official agenda of the NLA. Back in Dallas,
when it became evident that a new leather
organization was going to be formed, a group
of us was sitting in a Denny’s trying to
salvage the situation and preserve the hope
of national leather political unity. I do not
recall the exact composition of this group,
although I know Tony was part of it. In any
case, we drafted a statement of principles for
what became SSCA, and it read as follows:
This organization is dedicated to the following
purposes: To help build, strengthen and
defend those groups and individuals involved
in SM, Leather, and other fetishes; to
promote the right of adults to engage in all
safe, sane, and consensual erotic activities;
to promote increased communication and
cooperation among our organizations,
individuals, and businesses everywhere; to
promote education about safe, sane, and
consensual behavior within our own
communities; to convey an accurate, positive
image of our interests and lifestyles; to unite
against threats to our freedom of expression,
our right to free association, and our right to
equal protection under the law; and to
preserve a record of our history, traditions,
and culture (my emphasis).
When SSCA was incorporated into the NLA,
so was much of this language. The clause on
preserving leather history was included
verbatim in the NLA International statement
of purpose. So much for intent. It is much
easier to fantasize about new institutions than
to generate them.
By 1991, I had been elected to the Executive
Committee of the NLA, and took this as an
opportunity to try to operationalize that history
clause. The first job was to try to figure out
what archives the NLA itself had, and secure
their conservation. Most of those records
were then in Seattle, in the possession of two
the NLA principals. They sent me an
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inventory of what they had stored in their
apartment. In a report to the Executive
Committee, I enumerated the conservation
needs of the collection and requested funds
be budgeted for archival storage materials. I
also noted that both my own collection and
that of the NLA were “challenging the limits of
available space” and needed some repository
other than the residences of individuals. I
concluded my report with the following:
One of the most pressing needs we have as
a national community is for a stable, well
funded, soundly run national leather/SM/
fetish archives/museum/library. Such an
enterprise needs several things, most
critically a suitable building and an
endowment sufficient to hire staff to manage
the collections and to pay for the materials
needed to properly care for them....The need
is urgent. Private apartments can only hold
our history for a limited time, and everything
other than a separate institution is a stop-gap
measure.
My long term recommendations are,
therefore, that the effort to create an
institutional infrastructure for the leather/kink
“historical society” be given attention and
energy. Once a non-profit corporation is set
up and a board installed, fundraising for the
“historical society” should become one of the
funding priorities stressed by the NLA. We
should make that a big part of our message
to the leather community. Even now we
should be encouraging people to donate their
memorabilia either to the NLA or to someone
willing to be a custodian until there is a better
place to put the stuff. NLA could even do
what the local San Francisco lesbian and gay
historical society did for many years and rent
a storage locker to store the material until
there is a better place to house it. We might
want to budget for such a storage locker and
appoint someone to receive the material in
the interim. Whoever does receive it should
have some knowledge of how to store it so
that it will not deteriorate while it is in the
locker…
In this time of so much morality, a lot of our
community’s past is landing on the junk heap
of history. One of the main ways material gets
lost forever is when people die and do not
make some kind of provision to save it. I have
painful personal knowledge of many fantastic
collections of artifacts that have been either
deliberately destroyed by heirs, or tossed in
the garbage by people who knew nothing of
their value. Even before we have a perfect
facility, we need to be reminding people of
the need to provide for their photos, run pins,
club insignia, club documents, newsletters,
posters, art work, etc. And if we can also
provide even a temporary repository, we will
be doing a great service. If there is a nonprofit
organization set up, we can also
encourage people to include it in their estate
planning (Report to the NLA Executive
Committee, May 21. 1991).
Little of this ambitious agenda was
accomplished by the NLA itself, and
realistically, the organization was not ideally
equipped to do so. In retrospect, the attempt
to establish a single, general-purpose
organization charged with doing everything
the leather communities needed was far less
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viable than establishing single-purpose
organizations with more specialized
functions. However, NLA did play a critical
role in the transition to what would become
the LA&M.
Tony DeBlase was also a member of that
same NLA Executive Committee, and later
that year, he coordinated the educational
programs for Living In Leather VI, held in
Chicago. He arranged a workshop called
“Preserving Our Leather Past.” He appointed
me as chair, and rounded out the panel with
Woody Bebout, that year’s Mr. Drummer, and
Chuck Renslow, whose own varied career
made him one of the most consequential
figures of leather in the 20 th century. The
workshop description read: “A report on the
need for, and the movement towards,
preserving a record of our past and the
establishment of a national Leather Archive.
Thoughts on the preparation of wills and
other methods of seeing that historically
important documents, works of art, and other
items are preserved.”
As I recall, my own contribution focused on
the kinds of storage media needed for
archival preservation, and their expense. In a
conversation with Chuck Renslow after the
workshop, I was surprised and delighted to
discover that Chuck knew all about acid-free
folders. He told me he was the archivist for
his Lodge, and was conversant with the
technical issues of preservation. What I did
not know then was that he and Tony had
evidently been having their own discussions
about the need for a leather archives. Despite
not knowing about their plans, it was not
exactly a shock when I heard that Chuck–
with his enormous resources and vast
experience in business and in community
organizations– had gone ahead and
incorporated a Leather Archives in the state
of Illinois. It is my understanding that Chuck
and Tony were primarily responsible for
establishing the LA&M, and they both then
played crucial roles in its development.
Chuck announced its formation at the 1992
IML. Shortly after, Tony asked me to join the
fledgling Board of Directors, which of course,
I did eagerly. I attended my first meeting of
the Board in 1992, and served on it until
2000. In the fall of 1993, I penned a short
article for Quarterlink, an NLA publication,
called “Saving Leather History: Preliminary
Guidelines.”
As someone wrote in the Wikipedia entry on
the LA&M, at that point, in the early 1990s, it
was still an “idea struggling to take form.” In
the decades since, that struggle has
produced a permanent building, a substantial
budget, paid staff, and a full-time archivist.
Many people have made this happen: first
and foremost, Chuck Renslow and Tony
DeBlase, as well as Joseph Bean, Rick and
Jeffrey Storer, and countless volunteers,
donors, board members, and fundraisers.
In the earliest days, it was mainly Chuck and
Tony who kept the idea afloat and helped the
LA&M grow. Chuck provided most of the
organizational stability, operational funding,
and our first physical location: a storefront
adjoining his bathhouse, Man’s Country. Tony
brought his professorial training and his
curatorial background to developing its
collections and its knowledge base. In
addition, Tony ultimately brought us Joseph
Bean. Joseph was an accomplished artist
and writer when Tony hired him, in 1989, to
edit Drummer and its affiliated leather
publications. After Tony and Andy sold
Drummer, Joseph became the manager of
Mr. S Leather in San Francisco. Joseph
subsequently edited International Leatherman
and its group of leather and bear magazines.
When that business foundered and Joseph
became available, Tony and Chuck jumped
on the chance to hire him. When he arrived at
the Archives as its first executive director in
1997, Joseph brought a formidable set of
skills and contacts developed through nearly
a decade in high-level leather managerial
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positions. He was later, along with Renslow
and DeBlase, instrumental in moving the
Archives to its current home.
No one should underestimate what a
stunning achievement the LA&M is. Building
institutions is no small task, and building
stable institutions out of marginal sexual
communities is nearly impossible. Maintaining
them is just as challenging. Institutions and
organizations are like buildings: if they are not
maintained, they fall into ruin. The roof will
leak, the animals will nest, and when the
plants take root the walls will crumble. The
Leather Archives & Museum will only survive
if it has the resources, personnel, and
community support to keep it going. And we
must make certain that it has what it needs to
persevere and to flourish.
I hope this narrative makes clear why the
LA&M is so near and dear to my own
passions and priorities. But it is also a
precious treasure, a crown jewel of the
leather populations. It is certainly not perfect.
I have noted with considerable despair a
tendency within many communities– and not
just the leather worlds– to gripe and carp
about everything that does not flawlessly
meet our desires and expectations. Our
institutions are often treated as if they have
the stability of major social entities: the big
museums, for example, or major universities,
or the government. But our institutions are
much smaller, much less affluent, and far
more fragile. They can and will easily fail if we
do not ensure their survival. Sure, the LA&M
needs more diversity. It needs more
collections. It needs to be more accessible.
But it also needs more space in which to
store those collections, more staff to tend to
them, more acid-free boxes and folders, and
more money to pay for it all. The LA&M is still
becoming what it can be. And it will be what
we make it.
Gayle Rubin
Ann Arbor
February 2016
With warm gratitude to Gerard Koskovich and
Jakob VanLammeren for their generous fact
checking and excellent editorial suggestions.
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34

Foundations: Dom Orejudos, the artist Etienne
I
am an archives volunteer at the Leather
Archives & Museum, an archivist by
profession, and an unabashedly proud
Etienne devotee. Some of my earliest
experiences of self-acceptance and
celebration as a young leatherman involved
locating my desires within Etienne’s
amazing artwork in the pages of Drummer,
In-Touch For Men, the Storytime series and
the complete Meatmen comic. I couldn’t get
enough of his art! I made visits to the Glad
Day Bookstore in Toronto while still a
student to gobble up all I could find of his life
and artwork.
When I heard of Dom’s passing in the gay
press, I think it was the first time I had ever
cried over the loss of someone I didn’t even
personally know. More than anything or
anyone else, Etienne lead me to the LA&M.
By the late 1990’s, I had heard that his
works had been collected, preserved, and
exhibited there; I knew I had to make a
pilgrimage, if for no other reason than to feel
his presence, thank him in spirit, and offer
my own services to help preserve his legacy
in any way I could.
The first time I visited the LA&M and entered
the Auditorium, I was overwhelmed—blown
away, actually. A sense of profuse warmth
washed over me and I sat down, quietly and
by myself, surrounded by all these
wonderful original murals. My emotions
overwhelmed me and tears just started
rolling down my face. I think it was so many
things: the joy of being with his spirit; being
in Chicago, where his leather life and lore
began. And simultaneously feeling sadness,
knowing that he left us far too early, like so
many of his generation and those since. To
be honest, those same feelings still wash
over me every time I enter the LA&M.
Most know and celebrate Dom Orejudos as
the gay erotic artist Etienne and/or Stephen,
but he was also a dancer, choreographer,
humorist, voracious reader, observer,
teacher, lover, storyteller and kinkster. He
was a devoted and caring man to both his
biological and chosen families. Dom was a
man of immense talent, humility and honor.
Founding Editor-in-Chief of Drummer
magazine and gay historian Jack Fritscher
described him as, “a sweet, gentle man.”
Domingo (‘Dom’) Francisco Stephen
Orejudos was a man whose life and art was
intrinsically woven into the evolution of gay
and Leather culture in the second half of
twentieth century America. His legacy
remains a beacon for Leather and Kink folk
around the world, and his story opens the
door to enjoying and learning all the Leather
Archives & Museum has to offer. More than
perhaps any other person, his spirit
pervades the LA&M and its raison d’etre, the
Etienne Artwork Collection.
Dom Orejudos, the artist Etienne
Born of Italian and Philippino parents in
1933 Chicago, Dom Orejudos grew up with
an impish and driven desire to draw, often
sketching in grammar school class. As a
young adult, his early influences included
famed gay artist George Quaintance, whose
classical style and settings were reflected in
Dom’s seminal works in the 1950’s and
early 1960’s. His men were often presented
in period and situational settings and this
would become a trademark of his
renderings. Etienne, however, took gay
erotic art to new levels Quaintance only
35

dreamed of, revelling unashamedly in all the
throws and ecstasies of male-dom. Dom
began his drawing career in Tomorrow’s Man
#8 (1953) and quickly became the artist-inresidence
for Kris Magazine. He took on the
name Etienne, French for Stephen, his
middle name, for his traditional oil, acrylic and
graphite panels, storylet tableaux and
Stephen, for his more thematic pen and ink
comics-style fetish creations. He was a great
storyteller, always with a narrative, and
became well known for his multi-paneled
story arcs, ranging from six to over twenty
panels long.
As noted, Dom pushed boundaries. One of
his early Kris Art storylets, “The Young
Warriors,” featured full frontal nudity in mail
order sets very early on. While, indicative of
the time, he suggestively drew his subjects
with strategic coverings, many of his original
works and stories were later altered or
redrawn to show full nudes. Never classically
trained in life drawing, some of his works
were proportioned to a less even degree than
others but never exaggerated to unbelievable
nor grotesque extremes. What was in
evidence, was his innate ability to draw the
male form from any angle, often to best effect
viewing from above or below, to emphasize
the power of dominance and submissiveness
of certain positions, especially of captives. He
exhibited an uncanny appreciation and
knowledge of the body’s physiology and
musculature.
watersports and scat. From the beginning,
Dom strived for meticulous, fully-rendered
detail in his primary subjects. His acrylics and
oils showed an intense if not brooding
masculinity, with rich brushstrokes and great
depth. His graphite works often took a week
to build and fully shade, as Dom felt that
facial expression was crucial to conveying
eroticism.
By the early 1970s, Dom was splitting his
time between Chicago and a back country
house in Pennsylvania . Here, he had the
chance to concentrate on his art over longer
periods, resulting in some very masterful and
long “Stephen” story series, which he
completed while resident artist for friend Lou
Thomas’ Target Studios. These published
works included the Adventuretime series,
Meatman, Star Trick, and Troopship, to name
a few (many of which were re-released in the
1980s as part of Falcon Studio’s Storytime
books). Pen and ink drawings for most of
these are found in the Original Art Collection,
while published versions are in the Teri Rose
Library.
Striving for artistic perfection, some other
early works were reworked and reinvented
into new series (example: Jack from the
unpublished “Cop Rape” series became Sgt.
Mack McAllister in “Marine Training”).
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, his work
quickly developed its own recognizable style,
reflecting a high degree of realism and of the
masculine ideal, not to mention, Dom’s own
fetish leanings. His rendered chests became
broader, clothing succumbed to ripping and
his feet --booted, sneakered, socked, or
naked, received a particular emphasis. Other
fetishes given the spotlight were military
(seminally, Navy) uniforms, cowboys,
superheroes and, of course, Leather/Levi.
Also present but rarely seen were nods to
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These drawings were accompanied by story
text, written by Dom himself, as well as
notable kink writers such as Jeff Kincaid. The
comic series gave Dom an opportunity to
introduce a high degree of dry humor. He put
his men into situations entirely implausible or
impossible in real life and often with
excruciating degrees of BDSM, but his
humor brought them down to earth and
made them accessible. His drawings were
perversely enjoyable, especially at a time
when the scourge of AIDS was making reallife
hedonism less and less possible. His Trip
to Leatherland series, with its array of fun
gadgets, is a prime example.
Perhaps most famously, Dom painted
original murals for the Gold Coast (starting in
1960 at the 1130 North Clark Street location,
Man’s Country, Zolar’s, Mineshaft, and Club
Baths Kansas City. After the murals at the
original Gold Coast location (1130 North
Clark Street) had to be painted over when
the bar moved, Etienne used plywood and
masonite so they could be transported from
location to location; it was this incredible
foresight that allows the LA&M to preserve
and exhibit these incredible murals today.
Occasionally, he referenced friends and
lovers in his works. For example, in the
Garage series, he pays tribute to his friend
Durk Dehner, Tom of Finland Foundation
Chair and inaugural IML contestant. As
another example of the importance of Dom’s
chosen family as expressed in his art, the
final panel of his Subway Savages series
shows newspapers which, on close reading,
give a nod to partners Renslow and Bob
Yuhnke, amongst others.
While a large number of Dom’s original
works were destroyed in a studio flood, the
LA&M has amassed much of Dom’s early
oeuvre in the Periodicals in the Rose Library,
the Original Art and Posters collections in the
archive, and within the Dom Orejudos
Collections, the Chuck Renslow Collection
and the Bob Yuhnke Collection on Dom
Orejudos.
37

Chuck Renslow, Kris Studios,
International Mr. Leather, LA&M
Dom first encountered Chuck Renslow on
Oak Street beach in Chicago in 1950.
Instantly drawn to each other, Dom moved in
with Chuck and in 1954. They forged the
physique photography business, Kris
Studios, which they ran until 1969. Kris’
photographic studio was originally set up in
the back area of the Triumph Gym, also a
Renslow-Orejudos collaboration, and many
of the gym’s patrons found their way into the
pages of Kris, the studio’s physique
magazine. It was within the pages of Kris
that Etienne launched his artistic career,
earning a living through mail order photo
prints of his drawings and art series’. Jack
Fritscher experienced the gym and the
scene it begat first hand early-on. In 1969,
he was first introduced to Dom and later
‘married’ into the Renslow clan when he met
and partnered with Gold Coast bartender
David Sparrow. He took many of his
“Chicago values” with him when they moved
to San Francisco in 1969, roots
which played an important role in his
association with Drummer and American
leather heritage. Dom and Jack became
lifelong friends.
By the time they closed Kris Studios, Chuck
and Dom had already become successful
business managers and owners of a series
of gay men’s gathering places in Chicago,
from the Triumph Gym to the Hi-Lo Bar, to
the various reincarnations of the Gold Coast
bar (beginning in 1958), to Man’s Country
bathhouse. Together, they also founded
International Mr. Leather in 1979, for which
Dom produced much of the contest’s
promotional art and its logo, served many
years as Head Judge, along with judging
roles at other leather contests across the
U.S.
Although most know Dom through his visual
art and involvement in the Chicago leather
community of the 50s to the 80s, he was a
passionate and talented dancer from early in
life. Dom served with the Ellis-DuBoulay
School, Illinois Ballet Company, New
Orleans Ballet Company, Southeast
Regional Ballet Association and others as a
student, dancer, teacher, choreographer,
composer, mentor, and judge. Orejudos
danced with the Illinois Ballet from 1958, at
the age of sixteen, until 1973, eventually
becoming resident choreographer, principal
dancer, and associate director of the
company. The Dom Orejudos Dance Papers
at the Newberry Library in Chicago hold
correspondence, clippings, photographs,
programs, sketches, and audiovisual
material relating to Orejudos' dance career
and to the Illinois Ballet.
Fritscher commented on the relation
between Dom’s dance sensibilities and his
visual art, noting, “His talent for dramatic
movement and story arcs, developed on
stage in his choreography, informed his
cartoon-strip narratives.”
The Dom Orejudos Collection at the LA&M
holds keys to this more personal side of
Dom, ranging from photograph albums,
leather clothing and vest, personal letters
and business correspondence, souvenirs,
buttons, an oral history recorded in 1984,
and of course, his amazing oeuvre of art.
38

Sadly, Dom passed away of AIDS in 1991.
Chuck Renslow, his partner of forty years by
that point, had been selling off some of Dom’s
work to pay for experimental medical
innovations to help treat Dom’s advanced
AIDS diagnosis. Upon his passing, Chuck
inherited Dom’s artwork and knew he couldn’t
sell it off, nor trust it to a foundation or gallery.
gay bars became, in essence, the first gay art
galleries. Dom was a true innovator in art,
photography and dance. More than anything
else though, Dom was a passionate family
man, so evidenced by his albums, interviews
and oral histories, all housed at the LA&M.
He was devoted to his biological family, his
mother and brother, as well as to his Leather
Family and all Leatherfolk with whom he had
made a connection through his art and life.
Friend Tony DeBlase (creator of the Leather
Pride Flag, early Chicago Hellfire Club
member, and publisher of DungeonMaster
newsletter and Drummer magazine) and
academic/historian Dr. Gayle Rubin (founding
member of Samois, The Outcasts,
International Ms. Leather) suggested that
Chuck start a museum and use a section of it
to display and preserve Dom’s art. Together,
Renslow, DeBlase, Rubin, and other early
LA&M Board members set the wheels in
motion and the Leather Archives & Museum
was formally launched at the 1992
International Mr. Leather contest. One large
part of the LA&M’s early mission was to
forever preserve the artwork, artifacts and
legacy of Etienne, and to collect the materials
of other leather artists and trailblazers as
well. Dom Orejudos served as one of the
major motivating forces for the creation of this
very institution, which will continue to grow
and flourish with the contributions and
support of like-minded leatherfolk, kinksters,
researchers, academics, and historians for
generations to come.
Dwight Skeates
LA&M Volunteer
August 2016
Dom helped usher the celebration of gay life
into the mainstream. He and his partner
Chuck Renslow were among the first to push
the envelope of gay erotic photography
beyond its cloaked public guise of physique
posing and into the realm of leather, BDSM,
kink, and fetish. He was one of the first to
release to the public unabashedly ‘gay’ art
and with nudity at that. He was one of the first
to bring art to the burgeoning Leather Mural
Movement and thanks in large part to him,
39

FROM THE LA&M COLLECTIONS: A PHOTO ESSAY
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54

MEMORY AND THE POWER OF PLACE:
MEDITATIONS ON ARCHIVES AND COMMUNITY AT THE LA&M
T
he collections of the Leather Archives
& Museum are not passive, idle.
These materials are living and active.
Sweat stains on the armpits of a bar vest;
Etienne murals, handwritten letters of
adoration and worship; newsletters about S/
M technique; organizational bylaws, event
ephemera, run planning documents; t-shirts,
leathers, denims, uniforms; thousands of
original artworks by greats such as kd
diamond, Rex, Steve Masters, Jacki
Randall. Mistress Mir’s corset; homemade
and distributed pornographic films; oral
history interviews. At the Leather Archives &
Museum, these are just some of the sexual
objects, memories, histories, club and
organizational records, and artifacts that
have become museum, library and archival
materials.
As a community archive, we have been on
the forefront of collecting, describing,
preserving, and providing access to leather
history for the past 25 years.
Andrew Flinn, Mary Stevens, and Elizabeth
Shepherd are U.K.-based archival scholars,
and they provide the following definition of
community archives:
Community Archives are ‘collections of
material gathered primarily by members of a
given community and over whose
community members exercise some level of
control. This allows both for collections that
are sustained entirely independent of
mainstream heritage institutions and those
that receive support in some form from such
organizations. Indeed, we argue that the
defining characteristic of community
archives is the active participation of a
community in documenting and making
accessible the history of their particular
group and/or locality on their own terms’.
(Source: Andrew Flinn, Mary Stevens, and
Elizabeth Shepherd, ‘Whose Memories,
Whose Archives? Independent Community
Archives, Autonomy and the Mainstream’,
Archival Science, 9 (2009), 71-86).
At the LA&M, archival work is guided by
principles and best practices of the
professional field while simultaneously
integrating the unique language,
descriptors, and cultural meaning of the
materials we collect. It has been incredible
to apply both of these methods and
practices to the LA&M collections. From
preservation assessments to deacidification,
55

BDSM/leather/alternative sex communities
as well as history and archival communities
about the importance of identity and cultural
formation connected to radical sexuality.
LA&M collections will continue to uncover
the relevance, interdisciplinary historical
impact, enduring value, and significance of
alternative sexuality within scholarship,
academics, and alternative sex communities
alike. Therefore, work with archival holdings
at the LA&M means approaching every
collection with respect and honor,
recognizing the specific needs of those
holdings on a micro level, and
understanding the interrelatedness of these
collections and their context on a macro
level.
rehousing to foldering, encapsulation,
integrating materials into archival sleeves,
metadata structures, catalog records,
digitization, volunteer and intern
management, completion of collectionsbased
projects, exhibits, and processing—
the archive at the LA&M is an active,
meaningful, and crucial part of the LA&M’s
mission and vision.
Archival work at the LA&M is emotional,
physical, and cerebral. The core values of
archivists are access and use, accountability,
advocacy, diversity, history and
memory, preservation, professionalism,
responsible custody, selection, service, and
Sexuality collections are compelling many
institutions to examine how certain histories
have experienced archival silencing and/or
erasure; the LA&M collections have
furthered the conversations and reexamination
of evidence, documentation,
and value of historical materials. Community
museums, libraries, and archives are pivotal
in this shift. Digital access to these
(formerly) hidden collections, including
associated metadata and controlled
vocabulary used to describe these
materials, provide dialogue and clarity within
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social responsibility. As the archivist at the
LA&M, I feel a dual responsibility —a
responsibility to you all, members of the
alternative sex and culture communities, as
well as a responsibility to educate and
provide access to a history that has been
systematically and systemically ignored and
kept out of traditional repositories.
supporting each other through history.
The LA&M is a profoundly moving place: a
living entity; a site of memorial; a place for
collective memories to be exhibited, to live.
For 25 years the LA&M has provided a space
for both people within Leather/kink/BDSM/
fetish communities, and also for those who
aren’t in the community to explore the history
of alternative sex and sexuality. I urge
everyone to visit the LA&M, explore, and
learn about why alternative sex history is
important not just for the communities
represented within the collections, but for the
history of American cultural and identity
development in the 20th and 21st centuries. I
am eager to see the cultivation of
professionalism, access, and expansion of
the collections over the next 25 years, and
the impact that the LA&M will continue to
have long into the future.
Our existence as a museum, archive, and
library disrupts and challenges the notions
that 1: explicit materials should not be
embodied in traditional repositories, and 2:
that these materials are too inappropriate to
be “on display.” Through primary source
materials and collections, the LA&M provides
evidences of how the history of alternative
sex and culture can help elucidate the
sociosexual history of American culture. The
Leather Archives & Museum is a sacred
place that excites and enraptures. We are
learning more and more that our sexual
identities are pivotal to understanding
ourselves and our histories, and the LA&M as
an institution is poised on the forefront of
providing evidence of this through our
collections and exhibits.
Sometimes I pace around the archives room,
strategizing about the selection and
processing plans for the next collections;
sometimes volunteers and interns and I laugh
hysterically and have to take a dance break
after putting thousands of letters and
drawings into archival quality sleeves. Often,
we get teary at the beauty and resilience of
leather communities loving, teaching, and
Jakob VanLammeren, MLIS
August 2016
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LOOKING FORWARD
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THE FUTURE
The future of the LA&M is exhilarating. The commemoration of our 25th anniversary
shows the perseverance and power within the Leather / BDSM / kink / fetish
communities to formalize the professional collection and documentation of
this incredible and unique history.
The social impact of archives is just starting to be felt on an individual and institutional
level: in the development of personal and community identities, preservation
of culture, historical context and significance, and representations of communities
by communities. You are here, you belong here.
The more direct engagement with archival materials, the more history becomes
active, participatory, pertinent. To see oneself within a historical context promotes
inclusion, empowerment. This is crucial to remember when we think
about the history of alternative sex communities. As Gayle Rubin discusses in
the essay in the previous section, it wasn’t very long ago that most, if not all of
these materials were being stored in private attics and basements. The absence
of physical materials created by leather communities made it very difficult to
build knowledge about these subcultures and communities.
The more access and research using these collections, the less misrepresentation
about alternative sexuality there will be within the historic record. The more
diversity within collections, the more represented and holistic leather history will
be.
The future of the LA&M holds more professional staff, inclusion and dynamism
within collections, and more representational belonging of all alternative sex
communities. In turn, these collections will demand the attention and use of
scholars worldwide as we assert our historical presence and impact.
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PROGRAMS HIGHLIGHT:
WOMEN’S LEATHER HISTORY PROGRAM
WLHP
The Women’s Leather History Project continued as a multi-year project through 2015, when
the LA&M decided to extend our commitment to collecting, preserving, and exhibiting women’s
leather history by transforming the project into a program. Rather than continuing to focus on
short term, project-based deliverables, the change to a program adds vision and scope to the
WLHP.
The Women’s Leather History Program (WLHP) at the Leather Archives & Museum is an ongoing
program created to generate strategic initiatives linked to programmatic vision, fundraising,
collections development, facilitate exhibit updates, generate digital content related to women’s
leather history, and sustain and continue to develop relationships with leather communities,
organizations, and clubs who are integral in the development of dynamic women’s collections.
The Leather Archives & Museum is very excited about this change, and what it means for sustainability
and long-term commitment to collecting women's leather history.
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COLLECTIONS HIGHLIGHT:
SAILOR SID PIERCING COLLECTION
In May 2015, the LA&M and the Association
of Professional Piercers (APP) launched a
crowdfunding campaign through Indiegogo
to support the digitization, processing,
preservation, rehousing, and exhibition of
the Sailor Sid Diller Piercing Collection. Additionally,
at International Mr. Leather and
the APP conference in 2015, awareness and
funds were raised for this Collection. Paul
King, Committee Chairperson and APP
treasurer, played an integral role in connecting
APP and LA&M for the preservation of
the Sid Diller collection.
arrangement and description of this Collection
using archival standards and best practices.
Many hours of carefully removing photographs
from harmful photo pages, cataloging
papers, digitization and film preservation
was and is required to keep this collection
available for generations to come. Additionally,
the digital collection, as well as the finding
aid, are now available online.
The APP played a pivotal role in this project
through their support, financial generosity,
and sharing networks and expertise. The
archival work, including digitization and exhibit
creation, was completed by Archivist/
Collections Librarian Jakob VanLammeren
and Project Intern Julissa Gillig at the LA&M.
In 2016, a traveling exhibit for the Sailor Sid
Diller Piercing Collection was developed and
unveiled at the APP 2016 conference, and
featured 18 six foot banners, three monitors
featuring interviews with LA&M staff, Sailor
Sid, and home movies from the collection;
and two exhibit cases with original archival
materials from the Sid Collection.
Sailor Sid Piercing Collection will benefit
leather and piercing aficionados alike. By
joining forces, the LA&M and APP are excited
to see this collection come to life.
Thanks to the APP and over 100 supporters
$22,477.55 was raised to fund this project.
By supporting the Sailor Sid Diller Online
Photograph Collection Indiegogo campaign,
you helped fund the complete processing,
“Sailor” Sidney Eugene Diller was born to
Moris S. Diller and Daisie Diller in Chicago,
Illinois on March 8, 1910. Little is known
about Sid’s childhood, but an archivist at the
Illinois Institute of Technology confirmed that
he was a student there from c. 1941-1946.
Sid also worked as an electrician at a hotel
in Chicago according to the 1940 census,
and served as an electrician's mate in WWII
with the USCG c. 1941-1948 before moving
to Miami Florida c. 1950. In a PFIQ inter-
64

view, Sid revealed that he got his first piercing
during the War—a ring in his left ear. After
the War, Sid traveled for a few years before
settling in Miami, Florida. Sid had a career as
an electrical engineer until c. 1974 when he
retired.
In conducting research for this collection at
the LA&M, it was not only uncovered that
Sailor Sid was born in Chicago, but the US
census revealed that he lived with his mother
and father just blocks away from the current
location of the Leather Archives & Museum in
Edgewater! The letters from his collection, in
addition to his writings for The Theban, newsletter
of Thebans MC, also discuss his visits
back to Chicago. In the 1970s he most often
came back to see his friend Cliff Raven before
Cliff relocated to the West Coast in 1976;
later Sid came to celebrate anniversaries at
The Gold Coast.
Sailor Sid is most well known for being one of
the early piercing, body modification, and tattoo
innovators alongside Doug Malloy, Fakir
Musafar, Cliff Raven, Jim Ward, and Bud
“Viking” Navarro.
He ran Silver Anchor Tattoo and Piercing
Studio from his house, first in Miami and then
Ft. Lauderdale, where he tattooed and
pierced mainly gay men from his home. Many
of the photographs from the Sailor Sid Diller
Piercing Collection proudly reveal nuances
about his work/living space--we see dozens
of photographs in a row of genital piercings,
and then suddenly we are looking at a photograph
of Sid’s dachshunds, his Volkswagen
Beetle in the driveway, the red white and blue
anchor-themed bedspread of his bedroom.
Sid was also an Honorary Member of Thebans
MC (Miami) and was a Recording Sec-
65

etary and on the Newsletter Committee in
May/June 1976, and continued to contribute
to the Thebans newsletter until late
1979/1980, when he relocated to Ft. Lauderdale.
Sid and his piercings and tattoos have
been featured in Piercing Fans International
Quarterly (PFIQ), T.R.A.S.H., and The Theban.
Sailor Sid passed away in Fort Lauderdale,
Broward County, Florida on May 24, 1990 at
the age of 80.
During the physical processing of the Collection,
an assessment and preservation strategy
was created with specific attention to inherent
vice, potential and real risk, and prioritizing
physical and digital access. A few strategies
regarding preservation, processing,
and rehousing for the Sailor Sid Diller Piercing
Collection are as follows:
Spotlight on Deacidification:
Deacidification spray is an aerosolized solution
made from magnesium oxide
(MgO). MgO, commonly used as an antacid,
neutralizes the acid that causes these documents
to become brittle and yellow and helps
significantly slow deterioration of these fragile
papers. This process has stabilized letters
like the one above, from Hal Hess to Sid,
thanking him for his photographs and letter.
Archival deacidification spray creates an alkaline
buffer on paper, which can decrease
the pH, slow deterioration, and helps prevent
leaching.
Digitization
All items that comprise the Sailor Sid Diller
Piercing Collection, including Piercing Volumes
(scrapbooks/photo albums), correspondence,
administrative and donor information,
46 film canisters, and 8 original 8mm
films have been digitized in their original format
and will be made available online to ensure
that original order, provenance, and the
integrity of the construction is retained.
Online access of the digital surrogates are
beneficial to people who prefer to engage the
collection and its contents remotely. However,
the LA&M has found that users who engage
our digital images and collections
online actually increases the desire for people
to visit and view items in person. Therefore,
the Sailor Sid Diller Piercing Collection
is also be available in its physical format at
the Leather Archives & Museum due to its
historic and evidentiary value.
Access the Sailor Sid Diller Piercing Collection
online at http://www.leatherarchives.org/
sailorsid/
66

EXHIBITIONS HIGHLIGHT:
EXCAVATING EXPERIENCE:
THE PRESENCE OF LGBTQ PEOPLE OF COLOR IN COOK COUNTY, IL
Leather is made up of diverse members,
people from a variety of backgrounds whose
aggregate experiences make up community.
People of color have a long history within
every part of this community and their presence
can be felt though it is not always recognized
or highly visible. The experiences of
members of a small segment of the leather
community are put on view in this exhibition:
LGBTQ members of color who live, celebrate,
and help make Leather what it is in
this county.
Taken from personal and organizational archives,
Excavating Experience shines a light
on these histories and the individuals whose
stories they tell. The presence of LGBTQ
people of color—Asian, Middle Eastern, African
American and Latinx leathermen and
leatherwomen—is brought to the fore. The
photographs, ephemera, documents and
interviews are from the current collections of
the Leather Archives and Museum.
As with everything at the LA&M, this exhibit
is about exploring and sharing our leather
history. The histories of LGBTQ people of
color in leather have often been left out of
mainstream histories and extend beyond the
materials included in this exhibition. If you
have objects, correspondence or other physical
memories related to the people, events
or organizations in this exhibition please visit
http://www.leatherarchives.org/
donatecollections.html
Alisa Swindell
Exhibition Curator
67

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS:
GENERAL RESEARCH
Research at the LA&M is conducted in many
forms, varying scales, and by a diverse population
of individuals who are thirsty for historical
knowledge about our communities. In
conjunction with museum exhibits and the
Teri Rose Memorial Library, research at the
LA&M is a key avenue through which the
institution provides the public with access to
its rich archival collections.
We serve the research needs of community
members, local undergraduate students,
national and international doctoral candidates
conducting dissertation research, and
independent scholars and writers. There is a
wide range of academic interest in the museum
and its rich collections; this includes
students in the fields of Gender and Women's
studies, Library and Information Science,
Art History, Arts Administration, Journalism,
History, and Museum Studies. Since
2013 alone, the LA&M has assisted approximately
430 researchers! We anticipate that
in the next quarter century the need and demand
for archival research and engagement
with the primary resource materials at the
LA&M will significantly increase.
The library collections held in the Teri Rose
Memorial Library are available during normal
business hours without an appointment.
For archival research, the LA&M requires an
appointment. For more information, please
visit us at: http://leatherarchives.org/
archives.html
VISITING SCHOLAR PROGRAM
In 2016, The Leather Archives & Museum
announced a call for its sixth annual Visiting
Scholar Program for academic year 2016-
2017. Scholars awarded this opportunity to
conduct project-based research using the
collections and receive a stipend of $1,000.
This award is intended to support visiting
scholars during their residency at the
LA&M. In addition, a travel reimbursement
allowance of up to $1,000 will also be provided
to the recipients. Program participants
propose a project that has the potential to
enhance the institution’s mission to disseminate
information to the public about the history
of the leather / fetish / BDSM community
and its culture. The LA&M is particularly
interested in projects that may provide materials
for display in its galleries, as traveling
exhibit, or as an online exhibition. Three
types of scholars are eligible for the Visiting
Scholar Program: 1) scholars with academic
appointments; 2) Graduate students pursuing
an MFA or PhD; 3) Independent scholars
with an established research agenda.
The essay reproduced here was written by
Lily Emerson, the LA&M Visiting Scholar for
academic year 2014-2015. At the time of her
research in the archives, Emerson was a
doctoral candidate at the University of Auckland,
New Zealand. Emerson’s research at
the LA&M followed the development of sadomasochism
in the U.S., with a particular
focus on the cities of San Francisco and
Chicago. She received her MA in History in
2012.
68

REFLECTIONS ON THE 2014/2015 VISITING SCHOLAR PROGRAM
By Lily Emerson, 2014/2015 Visiting Scholar
*Originally Printed in “Leatherati presents From the Archives”, March, 2015
Elizabeth Freeman has argued that sadomasochism
is an unusual sexual technique not
only because its rise and elaboration can be
traced to particular historical figures (Sade,
Sacher Masoch, Krafft-Ebing) and moments
in time (the French Revolution, the late nineteenth
century) but also because it is a
‘hyperbolically historical, even way of having
sex’. During my research on the history of
American sadomasochism, as a part of my
PhD thesis, I have become immersed in the
ways that thinking about and practicing sadomasochism
constantly invoke, challenge, and
solidify historically constructed racial, gendered,
and sexual identities. Sadomasochism
offers a unique example for the historian to
look not only at the ways in which identities
and cultures are shaped by practices and discourses
in their contemporary context, but the
ways in which practitioners themselves knowingly
invoke historically produced identities
through their sexual practice. This thesis
therefore turns its attention not only to the
production of sadomasochistic identities and
culture, but to the historical discourses that
sadomasochists themselves appropriate
through their practice.
As a result, during my recent trip to the LA&M
as a part of their Visiting Scholar’s Program
2014/2015, I chose to place particular emphasis
on material related to people of colour
in the sadomasochistic community. Some
sources that I found of particular use were
Cain Berlinger’s self-published monograph,
Black Men in Leather [1] (2000) which
contains serious discussion of racial politics
in the leather community; Black Leather in
Color magazine (and an accompanying oral
history compiled by members of the editorial
staff); and Vi Johnson’s Papers, which address
the intersection of race, gender, and
sadomasochism.
These sources (as well as others) highlight
the diversity of opinion amongst people of
colour in the leather/sadomasochistic community,
and make it clear that there is no consensus
as to what (if any) approach should
be taken to approaching racial tensions that
arise within it. These tensions themselves,
however, are palatable. Race play can be an
issue here. For instance, what does it mean,
and what historical meanings are being invoked,
for a person of colour to be called a
‘slave’ or a ‘n______’, even in the context of
consensual sex? Should people of colour ever
consent to submissive roles in bi-racial
pairings? But Berlinger’s interviewees make
clear, as do issues of Black Leather in Color,
that many people of colour have experience
racism within the s/m community that has
very little to do with actual play of any kind.
I want to preface my response with the acknowledgment
and understanding that I am a
white person and as such benefit from a considerable
amount of white privilege. I say this
because I think it would be wrong for me to
speak for people of colour and the ways that
69

they negotiate, play, and live a BDSM, kink,
and/or Leather lifestyle.
There are many ways for anyone to negotiate,
with themselves and others, how to create
a lifestyle and/or scene that works for
them. My source material does not provide
concrete answers to the questions raised in
the previous paragraph, but it does provide a
wide variety of perspectives from people of
colour that I look forward to exploring more
fully in my thesis. [2]
My research at the LA&M has also led me
down another somewhat controversial path –
although since when has anyone been adverse
to a little controversy, right? Almost by
accident I came across a number of sources
relating to the infamous Dallas Conference of
’88, [3] and instantly my interest was sparked.
Again, I have been confronted with a number
of contradictory voices in the archive, but
what emerges is a number of conflicts between
men and women, gays and lesbians,
urban and rural, the East Coast and the West
Coast, and those who belong to official leather
organisations and those who do
not. Newslink by the GMSMA has some particularly
interesting articles on the topic, and
they show how heightened emotions were
following the conference. Similarly, correspondence
in the Joseph Bean Papers is
highly charged. My goal here is not air dirty
laundry for its own sake, but to analyse how
these clashes reflected and contributed to the
landscape of the leather community in the
late twentieth century. Occurrences such as
the Dallas Conference of ’88 offer me, as an
historian, an opportunity to see what various
stakeholders in the community considered
vital, and how these views influenced further
development in the scene.
I want to thank the LA&M, and especially Rick
Storer and Jakob VanLammeren for their support.
Resources such as the LA&M are rare,
and to be treasured – thank you for making
my cross-hemisphere pilgrimage possible.
Yours in Leather – Lily.
Notes
[1] Lenius, Steve. “New Book about Black Men in Leather.” Leather Life column for Lavender Magazine,
Issue #108. July 16, 1999. Accessed via the web on 2015-03-25.
[2] For additional information regarding PoC in Leather, visit Dark Connections, the Carter/Johnson
Leather Library, ONYX and their annual anniversary party Blackout.
[3] See Joseph Bean’s article series on the Dallas Conference ’88 in issues 35, 36, 37 and 39 in The
Leather Times.
70

71

72

GRADITUDE
73

A community archive documents, records and explores community heritage
(often on a grassroots level), in which community participation, control and/or
ownership of the project is essential. In the case of the LA&M, this means that
we are, and remain, an independent nonprofit organization, unaffiliated with a
university or institutional repository, that is primarily sustained by the Leather /
BDSM / kink / fetish communities while also being guided by archival, museum,
and library best practices and standards.
Through our collections and exhibitions, we reflect the unique historical record
regarding the formation and development of alternative sex cultures and practices,
including the interests, needs, participation, and priorities of diverse Leather
/ BDSM / kink / fetish communities across the country and world.
That said, the work we do wouldn’t be possible without all of our supporters—
your memberships, financial donations, event attendance, and volunteer and
internship work has truly made us the institution we are today, and we are so
honored and grateful for each and every one of you. While we would like to
name every supporter the LA&M has had over the past 25 years, here we are
focusing on the last five years of the institution.
Thank you
74

TOP 10 DONORS
International Mr. Leather, Inc.
Renslow Family Enterprises
CLAW
Centaur MC
Bear Man / Leatherwerks
Tides Foundation
Lambda Men’s Brotherhood / Leather Masked Ball
Leather SINS
Chicago Hellfire Club
Philadelphia Leather Pride Night
75

Current Members and Donors
$5,000 or More
Bear Man
Centaur MC
Chicago Hellfire Club
CLAW 2016
In loving memory of slave pluG, mike
mcbride
John Palatinus Charitable Trust
Kinky Kollege
Seattle Leather Daddies Tag sale
Tides Foundation
$2,500 or More
Avant-Garde Piercing
Lambda Men's Brotherhood
Leather 64Ten
Leather SINS
Philadelphia Leather Pride Night 2015
$1,000 or More
Carnival of Madness:
Exile 5 Fetish Ball
Folsom Street Events
Harry H. Harkins
Jim Drew, Mr. Washington State Leather
2015
John Birdsell
Justin Herren
Max M. and Carol W. Sandfield
Roger Scheid
Scott Philips
Sir Papa Bear
slavemeat chuck
Tawse
Touché Chicago
$500 or More
Billy Lane and John Brook
boy tyler Fong
David Barnett
DNA
Eric Kinast
Fetish Locker
Frank Nowicki
In Loving Memory of
John Prather
Leon Grossman
Master slave Conference 2016
Midwest Bootblack Roundup
Mike & Rita K.
Mr. Keith Truitt
Mr. Leather64Ten 2016
Mr. Michigan Leather Weekend
National Leather Association : International
Rangers Inc.
Robert Guenther
Steve Ranger
Stompers Boots
Tallen Bell and George Pena
Tom Matt
$200 or More
Adam Damewood
Adynaton Publishing
Andrew Masterson and Ed Luisi
Bamm Bamm
Bill Christiansen
Bob Miller
Brendan McIntyre
Brent Seeley & Jeff Halsey
Brian Mincey
Chicago Leather Club
Christina Court
Club Diversity CLAW Nation Party
76

D. DiLandro
Daddy Don
Daddy Mark and Boy Spyker
Darrell Moyers
David - SF
David Ellis and bobby coad
Donald Palmore
Doug and Mike
House 281
Jason Zahlen
Jay Hemphill
Jeffrey Storer
Jim Rinefierd and Dan Anderson
Joe Granese
John Bradford, Louis Lang, Hieu Nguyen
John J. DiGilio
John. E.
Jon Krongaard
JW Rutkowski
Keith & Kyle Gearhart-Stoneking
Ken Rogers
Kip Hollar
Kirk Hamlin
Lenny Broberg and Paul Maluchnik
Loki
Luis Tipantasig
Lyle Swallow & Jack Becker
Marc Arendt
Mark Frazier
Mark Zubro
Master Alex Keppeler
Melinda Chateauvert
Michael Holeman
Michael Horowitz
Michael Horowitz
Mike Daggs & Kelley Wilt
Miss Simone
Neil M.
Nick Elliott
Norman L. Sandfield
Pat Daley
Patrick Grady
Patrick Miska
Patrick Mulcahey
Paulo and Jubi Arriola-Headley
Promethean Guard of NJ
Ramien Pierre
Ray "Piglet" Izard
Richard Puller
Rick Storer
Rick Umbaugh
Rob Anderson
Robert R. Bender
Robert Weber
Ron Moser
Ron Vogel
Scott Alan Moore
Steve Bell
Steve Carbone
Steve Lenius
Team Friendly, Inc.
Terry L Bucher
Thomas Fincannon
Tim Waterfill
Timothy Hotchkin
Wolfstryker Leather, LLC
$100 or More
Alleycat
Amber R. Clifford-Napoleone
Anonymous gift
black the bootblack
Boy Wayne M.
Claw Jack
clublum.com
Corn Haulers L&L
Daddy Dan Weiss
Daddy Vick Germany
Dan Marrs
David Drees
david stein
David Wray
Dean Ogren
Defenders / San Francisco
77

Doc Duhon
Dr. Robert Wall
Eric Kugelman
Full Kit Gear
G Sharp
Gabe Sims
Gayle Rubin
Great Lakes Leather Alliance
Jakob VanLammeren
James C Jordan
Jeff L Stoner and Bob Rowe
Jerry Moreau
Jim Barriball
Jim Overhoiser
Kyle Kingsbury
Lady Jodi
Masterlady LJ and slave tabitha
Members of Low Country Leather
Miguel Torres
Ms. Solitaire
Perry Wiggins and Michael Barnes
Phil Hannema
Ron Volanti
Scott Answer
Shane Rasmussen
Smokey Productions
South Florida boys of Leather
Steve Bianchi
Taylor Coleman
Tom M.
Torch Weisman
Trooper
Walter Johnson
Wendell Reid
$50 or More
Alan Dudley
Alex Ironrod
Alexander Henryk Wisniowski
Bootblack Meghan
Brett Baldwin
Broderick Rojas and Eric Gangloff
Carlos Cruz
Craig Rich
Dan Ronneberg
Darío Sánchez-González
Das Janssen
Domenic Sgro
Douglas O'Keeffe
Douglas Pamplin
Douglas Van Kirk
Dr. Jennifer Tyburczy
Eric GUTTIEREZ
G. Ronald Kastner, Ph.D.
Gear Up Project
GentleDom9
Hagert / Wenla
J. Raúl Cornier
James Tyrcha
Jean Hardy
Jeff J.
Jim Drew
Joey McDonald
John Rossi
Jose Santiago Perez
Keith A Carney
Kevin
Lisa Lacriola
Lynn Schornick
Matt Zanon
Michael O'Donnell
Mory Martinez
Mr. Bluegrass Leather 2015 & IML
Class #37
Mystryss Lily is proud and
Nancy Lee Weinberger
Paul Whitson
Pete Burke
Peter Thomas
Peter Tupper
Queerella Fistalot
Race Bannon
Randi Kemmler
Ruth Fink-Winter
Sarah Beth Landau
SirRA - Eli ONYX
78

Stephen Klein
William J. Smith Trust
With Gratitude For Our History
Zaq
Lifetime Members
Andy Mangels
Bear Man
Black Heart Uniform Ball
Centaur MC
Chicago Hellfire Club
Chuck Renslow
CLAW Corporation
Fort Lauderdale Leather Pride
International Mr. Leather
International Ms. Leather, LLC
Jill Carter and Family
John Palatinus Charitable Trust
John Pendal
Jon Krongaard and Ken Rose
Joseph W. Bean
Lambda Men's Brotherhood
Leather SINS
Melinda Chateauvert
Philadelphia Leather Pride Night
Robert Guenther
Robert M. Ridinger
Seattle Leather Daddies Tag sale
T. L. Gross
Tawse
Tides Foundation
BECOME A MEMBER
For 25 years, the Leather Archives & Museum has been dedicated to collecting, preserving, and exhibiting
the diverse cultures of Leather sex, BDSM, Fetish and Kink. The generous support of our members
ensures that our programs, events, exhibits, and resources continue to reach our communities and public.
By becoming a member, you help us continue protecting our heritage and unlocking our history!
MEMBER BENEFITS
All membership levels are valid through April 30 of the following year.
Each level includes free admission to museum exhibits, is recognized on
the donor page of the LA&M website, and receives all LA&M publications.
The Leather Archives & Museum is a proud member of ROAM. This national
organization allows LA&M members at the Supporting Level or higher to take their benefits with
them when they visit participating museum. In Chicago alone, these include: Intuit: The Center for Intuitive
and Outsider Art, Loyola University Museum of Art, Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago,
and the Richard H. Driehaus Museum.
E-Membership ($50)
MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS
This is the basic individual Membership of the LA&M. Benefits include: free admission to museum exhibits,
listing on donor page, and electronic delivery of all LA&M publications.
Supporting Membership ($100)Supporting Membership benefits include: free admission to museum
exhibits, listing on donor page, email delivery of all LA&M publications, and the reciprocal benefits of
the ROAM program.
To become a member of for details on individual and organizational membership options, please contact
us at 773-761-9200 or visit our membership page on the LA&M website:
leatherarchives.org/membership.html
79

25 Years of Board of Directors
*Chuck Renslow
(1992 - present)
*Tony DeBlase
(1992 - 2000)
Gayle Rubin
(1992 - 2000)
Barry Johnson
(1992 - 1998)
Albert Kraus
(1992 - 1996)
Gary Chichester
(1992 - 1994)
Judy Tallwing McCarthy
(1992 - 1993)
*Chuck Higgins
(1993 - 1996)
Harold Cox
(1993 - 1996)
*Michael Horowitz
(1994 - 2002)
Joseph Bean
(1996 - 2002 ex officio)
Vi Johnson
(1996 - 2001)
*Bill Costomiris
(1996 - 2000)
Guy Baldwin
(1996 - 1997)
Diamond Mitchell
(1997 - 2001)
Hilton Flax
(1998 - 2000; 2007 - 2009)
Fluffy Swenson
(1998 - 2001)
*Bear Man
(2000 - 2015)
*Bill Stadt
(2000 - 2003)
*Chris Zimmerman
(2000 - 2001)
Randy Brown
(2000 - 2001)
Lord Suttle (Tori B)
(2000 - 2001)
*Jon Krongaard
(2001 - present)
*Rick Storer
(2001 - present ex officio)
Robert Ridinger
(2001 - present)
Melinda Chateauvert
(2001 - 2015)
Tom Stice
(2001 - 2010)
Joe Gallagher
(2001 - 2007)
80

*Lawrence E. A. Fox
(2001 - 2007)
Bob Guenther
(2001 - 2004)
Stephen Scott
(2001 - 2002)
Joni Perrie
(2002 - 2005)
Julia Keathley
(2003 - 2007)
*Donald Dotson
(2003 - 2006)
Norman Eriksen
(2003 - 2005)
Ms Kendra McClain
(2004 - 2010)
Robert Davolt
(2004 - 2005)
Edward M
(2005 - present)
Philip Rubin
(2005 - 2008)
*Leon Grossman
(2006 - present)
Matthias Peuser
(2007)
Ira C. Smith
(2009 - 2015)
Mark Frazier
(2009 - 2011)
Master Conrad
(2009 - 2010)
Catherine Gross
(2010 - present)
Sarah Humble
(2010 - 2016)
Mike Daggs
(2014 - present)
*Christina Court
(2014 - present)
Bob Miller
(2014 - present)
*Harry Harkins
(2014 - present)
Steve Ranger
(2014 - present)
*served as an Officer of the LA&M
81

25 YEARS OF STAFF
Joseph Bean
Executive Director, 1997 - 2002
Rover
Assistant to the Director, 1999 - 2000
Mark Collier
Assistant to the Director, 2001 - 2003
Rick Storer
Executive Director, 2002 - present
Taber
Assistant to the Director, 2003
Jeffrey Storer
Facilities Manager / Director of Operations, 2003 - present
Dave Clements
Development Director, 2008
Andrea Gerson
Development Director, 2008 - 2009
Jennifer Tyburczy
Program Director, 2009 - 2010
Chester Munro
Director of Project Management, 2010 - 2012
Jakob VanLammeren
Archivist and Collections Librarian, 2013 - 2016
Jose Santiago Perez
Patron Services Representative, 2016 - present
82

VOLUNTEERS AND INTERNS
2011-2016
Whether answering the door for museum visitors, taking part in special events, transcribing
oral histories, assisting with cataloging, acquisitions, project management, building maintenance,
archival processing, social media, curation, graphic design, or PR and outreach, LA&M
volunteers and interns are an integral part of the LA&M’s success over the last 25 years! While
we would love to acknowledge every single volunteer that has made the LA&M what it is today,
it is nearly impossible to name every volunteer that we have had the pleasure of working with!
The following volunteers and interns have made significant contributions over the last 5 years:
Luis Acoltzi
Community Volunteer
Leslie Anderson
Community Volunteer
Noah Barth
DePaul University
Steve Bell
Community Volunteer
Beatrice Collier
SAIC
Christina K. Court
Community Volunteer
Jessica DiMaio
Community Volunteer
Parks Dunlap
Community Volunteer
Russell Floyd
Community Volunteer
G
Northwestern University
Julissa Gillig
SAIC
Michael Guerrero
Community Volunteer
Liz Hamilton
Community Volunteer
Matthew C Hampton
Community Volunteer
Jean Hardy
University of Michigan iSchool
Adam Hart
Community Volunteer
83

Justin Oliver Hartman
Community Volunteer
Bianca Jarvis
Community Volunteer
Steve Kent
Community Volunteer
Kiernan Kupferer
Community Volunteer
Ryan Loren
Community Volunteer
Scott Lyne
SAIC
Lorenzo El Cuero Martino
Community Volunteer
Amy McCoy
Dominican University
Keir McCoy
University of Pittsburgh iSchool
Brie Montoya
Dominican University
Chuck Morris
Community Volunteer
Emma Morris
Newberry Library
Dean Ogren
Community Volunteer
Michael Ojedda
Community Volunteer
Ellen Olker
University of Illinois
James Otto
Community Volunteer
Michael Pacas
Community Volunteer
John Prather
Community Volunteer
Shane Rassmussen
Community Volunteer
John Reents
Community Volunteer
Missy Rhodes
Community Volunteer
Jack Rinella
Community Volunteer
Bob Rogers
Community Volulnteer
Angelique Schuler
Dominican University
Gee Sharp
Community Volunteer
Dwight Skeates
International Community Volunteer
Sam Smith
Newberry Library
Matthew Steinbrecher
SAIC
84

Liz Stigler
Community Volunteer
Alisa Swindell
UIC
Alex Tatum
Loyola University
Nathan Thomas
University of Pittsburgh iSchool
Angel Velez
Community Volunteer
Alex Warner
Community Volunteer
Kevin Whiteneir
SAIC
Philip Wills
Dominican University
Doug Yellin
Community Volunteer
Jacqueline Yvonne-Smith
Community Volunteer
85

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88

IMAGE CREDITS
1. Gold Coast, no.21, undated. Chuck Renslow Photograph Collection. Leather Archives &
Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Front Cover].
2. Gold Coast, no.23 (Sleasy), undated. Chuck Renslow Photograph Collection. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 5].
3. Greenview Art Center, no.4, c.1999. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 9].
4. 15 th Anniversary poster for the Second City MC at the Gold Coast Poster, c.1975. Posters
Collection. RCID#2013061610. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page,
14].
5. Leather Archives & Museum Mortgage Burning Weekend, 2005. Digital Resources Collection.
RCID#2008012701. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 16].
6. Tony DeBlase and Chuck Renslow at 5013 N Clark St., no.1. c.1991. LA&M Photograph
Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 17].
7. Tony DeBlase and Chuck Renslow at 5013 N Clark St., no.2, c.1991. LA&M Photograph
Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 17].
8. Untitled, no.473 (5013 N Clark St), c.1991. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 18].
9. Untitled, no.472 (5013 N Clark St), c.1991. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 18].
10. Untitled, no.471 (5013 N Clark St), c.1991. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 18].
11. Untitled, no.769 (5013 N Clark St), c.1991. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 18].
12. One Way, The Los Angeles Tom of Finland Poster, 1989. Posters Collection.
RCID#2002091501. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 19].
13. Rick Storer at PLPN, 2011. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 20].
14. Celebration Costume Ball, undated. Jan Hall Papers. PERS0034. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA.[Page, 22].
15. Samois Lesbian Hanky Code, 1980. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Mu-
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seum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 24].
16. Various Matchbooks (Noir, Touché, Man’s Country, The End Up, Gold Coast, The Spike,
SF Eagle, The Noose), undated. Realia Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago
Illinois USA. [Page, 26].
17. Chicacgo Eagle and Mafia Emory Boards, undated. Realia Collection. RCID#2010024401
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 27].
18. NSA Living in Leather V T-shirt, 1990. Fibers Collection. RCID#2002038101. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 28].
19. GMSMA (Gay Male SM Activist), New York Silver Pin, undated. Pins Collection.
RCID#2005048601. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 29].
20. Tony DeBlase with Cigar and Microphone, undated. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather
Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 30].
21. LA&M Display Case, 5013 N. Clark St., undated. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather
Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 31].
22. Clark & Elm Mural, undated. Etienne (Domingo Orejudos). Chuck Renslow Photograph
Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 34].
23. Cop Rape, (panel 18), c.1989. Etienne (Domingo Orejudos). Original Art Collection.
RCID#201302000. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 36].
24. Marine Training, pp.12-13, 1989. Etienne (Domingo Orejudos). Original Art Collection.
RCID#2013038001. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 36].
25. A Trip to Leatherland, 1986. Etienne (Domingo Orejudos). Original Art Collection.
RCID#2013040601. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 37].
26. “Subway Savages”, 1986. in Storytime 2. Falcon Studios. Etienne (Domingo Orejudos).
Periodical Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 37].
27. Gold Coast Original Art, 1979. Etienne (Domingo Orejudos) Original Art Collection.
RCID#2015009402. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 38]
28. Dom Orejudos AIDS Quilt Panel, c. 1991. LA&M Photography Collection. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 39].
29. Dom Orejudos (Chicago – W. Belmont), c.1970. Tom Medcalf. Photography Collection.
RCID#2006045801. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 39].
30. Greenview Art Center, c.1999. LA&M Photography Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 40]
31. Teri Rose Library, 2016. Adam Hart. LA&M Photography Collection. Leather Archives &
Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 40].
32. Gold Coast Gay Pride Parade Float, 1976. Chuck Renslow Photograph Collection. Leather
Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 41].
33. Gold Coast, no.13, undated. Chuck Renslow Photograph Collection. Leather Archives &
90

Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 42].
34. Gold Coast, no. 28, undated. Chuck Renslow Photograph Collection. Leather Archives &
Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 42].
35. Dom with Mural, undated. Chuck Renslow Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 43].
36. Gold Coast, no.36, undated. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 43].
37. International Mr. Leather Contest Poster, 1979. Posters Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 44].
38. March on Washington Leather Contingent Poster, 1993. Posters Collection
RCID#2001011539. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 44].
39. Touché Bar Chicago Poster, c.1989. Poster Collection RCID#2004071701. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 44]
40. Untitled, no.778 (5013 N Clark St), c.1991. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 44]
41. Untitled, no.428 (5013 N Clark St), c. 1991 LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 44]
42. Untitled, no.520 (5013 N Clark St), c. 1991 LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 44]
43. Untitled, no.777 (5013 N Clark St), c. 1991 LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 45].
44. Untitled, no.606 (First Board of Directors), undated. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather
Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 45].
45. Untitled, no.492 (5007 N Clark St), c. 1991 LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA [Page, 45]
46. Man’s Country Close Encounters Poster, undated. Posters Collection RCID#2002109801.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 45].
47. CHC Inferno XI Poster, 1982. Posters Collection. RCID#2005131401. Leather Archives &
Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 45]
48. Gold Coast Sunday Nite Movie Poster, undated. LA&M Photography Collection. Leather
Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 45]
49. International Ms. Leather 1990 T-shirt, 1990. Fibers Collection. RCID#2002037401. Leather
Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 46].
50. Black Leather In Color, No. 5, Fall 1995. Periodical Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 46].
51. Brat Attack, No. 4, 1993. Periodical Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois
USA. [Page, 46].
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52. Dungeon Master, No. 35, 1988. Periodical Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago
Illinois USA. [Page, 46].
53. Loading Zone Chicago T-shirt, undated. Fibers Collection. RCID#2002052501. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 46].
54. Spider Webb Studio T-shirt, undated. Fibers Collection. RCID#2002055401. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 47].
55. Growing Pains, Nov. 1980. Periodical Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois
USA. [Page, 47].
56. Bruce Kings S&M Scenes, 1977. Periodical Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago
Illinois USA. [Page, 47].
57. Outrageous Women, Vol. 1, No. 4, 1985. Periodical Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 47].
58. Bondage T-shirt, undated. Fibers Collection. RCID#2002042601. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 47].
59. Kris Studios, no.40 (Larry Harper & Billy Kidd), undated. Kris Studios. LA&M Photograph
Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 48].
60. Original Artwork by Ira C Smith, 1, 1992. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives &
Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 48].
61. Untitled, undated. Molly Devon. Original Art Collection. RCID#2013009701. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 48].
62. Untitled (Sketch), date unknown. Dom Orejudos (Stephen/Etienne). Original Art Collection.
RCID#20130534. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 48].
63. Forced Entry! (cover), 1972. Stephen (Dom Orejudos/Etienne). Kris Studio. Art Related
Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 48].
64. Sailor with Polynesian Woman on Beach, undated. Dom Orejudos (Stephen/Etienne). Original
Art Collection. RCID#20130193. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA.
[Page, 48].
65. Target Studios, no.18, undated. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 48].
66. R&N Los Angeles, 1997. Janet Ryan. Photography Collection. RCID#2013061704. Leather
Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 48].
67. Untitled, 25, undated. Joseph Bean. LA&M Photography Collection. Leather Archives &
Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 48].
68. Untitled (Female nude in sling), 1978. Molly Devon. Original Art Collection.
RCID#2003017101. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 49].
69. Tasso, no.47, 1985. Pat Daley Original Art Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago
Illinois USA. [Page, 49].
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70. Kris Studio, 73 (Jay Reed), undated. Kris Studios. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather
Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 49].
71. Sailor Dancing with Polynesian Woman and Man, undated. Dom Orejudos (Stephen/
Etienne). Original Art Collection. RCID#20130192. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago
Illinois USA. [Page, 49].
72. “Star Trick” in Adventuretime No.9, 1977. Stephen (Dom Orejudos). Target Studios. Art Related
Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 49].
73. Torture Chair (study), undated. Dom Orejudos (Stephen/Etienne). Original Art Collection
RCID#20130171. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 49].
74. Untitled, 70, undated. Joseph Bean. LA&M Photography Collection. Leather Archives &
Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 49].
75. Fantasy 1997, Omaha, 1997. Janet Ryan. Photography Collection. RCID#2013061708.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 49].
76. Untitled (Joseph Bean and Warren West), 1992 Jim Wigler. Photography Collection.
RCID#2006038801. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 49].
77. Chicago Eagle, no. 6, undated. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 50].
78. Lesbian Sex Mafia, c. 1993. Efrain J. Gonzalez. Photography Collection.
RCID#2013061309. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 50].
79. Fifteen Association (Peter Fiske with Willie Brown), undated. Photography Collection.
RCID#2004003901. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 50].
80. Louis B., PF, Thomas, Don & Andrew, c.1992 Peter Fiske Photo Collection.
RCID#PERS0028 Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 50]
81. Untitled, no.610, undated. LA&M Photography Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 50].
82. Dykes on Bikes at The Wild Rose, undated. LA&M Photography Collection. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 51].
83. Guy Baldwin and Pat Califia, undated. LA&M Photography Collection. Leather Archives &
Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 51].
84. Untitled, no.434 (Joseph Bean and Peter Fiske), undated. LA&M Photograph Collection.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 51].
85. Untitled (Rick and Jeff), no. 646, undated. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 51].
86. Untitled, no.310, undated. Israel Wright. Israel Wright Photographs. RCID#PERS0042.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 51].
87. 6418 N Greenview Ave.(Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol Kesser Maariv Anshe Luknik), c.1964.
LA&M Photography Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA.
[Pages52-3].
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88. Jakob WIR, 2015. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois
USA. [Page, 54].
89. Cynthia Slater Cap (with Letter of Authenticity), 2016. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather
Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 55].
90. Jakob Deacidifying Sailor Cid Diller Materials, 2016. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather
Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 56].
91. Pam Nash & Ethel Grainger, c.1975-2016. Sailor Sid Diller Piercing Collection. Piercing
Vol. 5. PERS0022. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 56].
92. Untitled, no.582, undated. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago
Illinois USA. [Page, 57].
93. Liz, Parks, and Angelique, 2014. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 57].
94. Noah, 2016. Jose Santiago Perez. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 57].
95. Ellen, 2016. Jose Santiago Perez. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 57].
96. 25 th Anniversary “Inside the Archives” Tour, 2016. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather
Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 57].
97. Jean, 2014. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois
USA. [Page, 57]
98. High Shine Tour, 2015. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago
Illinois USA. [Page, 58].
99. Brie, 2016. Jose Santiago Perez. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 58].
100.Archives Room, no.4, 2009. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 58].
101.Kevin and Jakob, 2016. Jose Santiago Perez. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 58].
102.Untitled, no. 605 (Mr. Marcus), undated. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives &
Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 58].
103.Phil and Jakob, 2016. Jose Santiago Perez. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives
& Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 58].
104.Party (Super 8mm canister), c.1975. Sailor Cid Diller Piercing Collection (online). Subseries
5.2: Home Videos. PERS0022. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA.
http://www.leatherarchives.org/sailorsid/ [Page, 59]
105.Untitled, no.38, undated. Israel Wright. Israel Wright Photographs. RCID#PERS0042. .
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 60].
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106.Alex Warner (Women of Leather), no. 3, undated. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather
Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 63].
107.Jim Ward, Sailor Sid, unknown, undated. Sailor Sid Diller Piercing Collection. PERS0022.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 64].
108. Letter from Hal to Sid, January 10, 1978. Sailor Sid Diller Piercing Collection. PERS0022.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 65].
109.Sailor Sid Exhibit, Association of Professional Piercers Conference, no. 4, 2016. LA&M
Photography Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 65].
110.Sailor Sid Exhibit, Association of Professional Piercers Conference, no. 7, 2016. LA&M
Photography Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 66].
111.Excavating Experience (Black Queer Magic), no.4108. LA&M Photography Collection.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 67].
112.Lily Emerson, undated. LA&M Photography Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago
Illinois USA. [Page, 70].
113.Black Men in Leather, 1999. Berlinger, Cain. BDSM How To and Informational. Leather
Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 71].
114.Leather Pride Flag Prototype, 1989. Anthony De Blase. Drummer Magazine, Issue 131,
pg. 4. Periodical Collection. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 72].
115.International Mr. Leather Contest, 1979. International Mr. Leather Collection. ORG0011.
Series_Photographs Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 79].
116.25 th Anniversary, no.4764, 2016. Lorenzo “El Cuero” Martino. LA&M Photograph Collection.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 86].
117.25 th Anniversary, no.4770, 2016. Lorenzo “El Cuero” Martino. LA&M Photograph Collection.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 86].
118.25 th Anniversary, no.4897, 2016. Lorenzo “El Cuero” Martino. LA&M Photograph Collection.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 86].
119.25 th Anniversary, no.4853, 2016. Lorenzo “El Cuero” Martino. LA&M Photograph Collection.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 86].
120.25 th Anniversary, no.4953, 2016. Lorenzo “El Cuero” Martino. LA&M Photograph Collection.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 86].
121.25 th Anniversary, no.4926, 2016. Lorenzo “El Cuero” Martino. LA&M Photograph Collection.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 86].
122.25 th Anniversary, no.4954, 2016. Lorenzo “El Cuero” Martino. LA&M Photograph Collection.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 86].
123.25 th Anniversary, no.4883, 2016. Lorenzo “El Cuero” Martino. LA&M Photograph Collection.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 87].
124.25 th Anniversary, no.4908, 2016. Lorenzo “El Cuero” Martino. LA&M Photograph Collec-
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tion. Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 87].
125.25 th Anniversary, no.4875, 2016. Lorenzo “El Cuero” Martino. LA&M Photograph Collection.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 87].
126.25 th Anniversary, no.4927, 2016. Lorenzo “El Cuero” Martino. LA&M Photograph Collection.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 87].
127.25 th Anniversary, no.4940, 2016. Lorenzo “El Cuero” Martino. LA&M Photograph Collection.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 87].
128.25 th Anniversary, no.4943, 2016. Lorenzo “El Cuero” Martino. LA&M Photograph Collection.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 87].
129.25 th Anniversary, no.4931, 2016. Lorenzo “El Cuero” Martino. LA&M Photograph Collection.
Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 87].
130.Untitled, no. 74, 2016. Adam Hart. LA&M Photograph Collection. Leather Archives & Museum,
Chicago Illinois USA. [Page, 88].
131.Gold Coast, no.69, undated. Chuck Renslow Photograph Collection. Leather Archives &
Museum, Chicago Illinois USA. [Back Cover].
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