Leather Archives & Museum
banner
leatherarchives.bsky.social
Leather Archives & Museum
@leatherarchives.bsky.social
A Chicago-based research archive, library and museum dedicated to the preservation of leather, kink, fetish and BDSM community history.
Cover of A Drummer Guide to Where the Action is in Los Angeles (ca 1980). #LosAngeles
January 6, 2026 at 9:56 PM
Thursday the 8th, 7pm to 8:30pm.
All experience levels are welcome! Bring your own rope if you can! A limited supply of extra rope will be there for attendees who don’t have their own. See you there! 🪢
January 6, 2026 at 4:51 PM
Knotty by Nature with The Persian Prince is back!
Join us this Thursday for the first class where you can learn bondage skills this new year!
January 6, 2026 at 4:51 PM
Gay Male S/M Activists (1980-2009) at the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Photo from the LA&M collections. #LeatherClubs
January 5, 2026 at 10:01 PM
The Seattle girls of Leather is a club that was founded in 2011. Patch from the LA&M patch library. #LeatherClubs
January 5, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Quote from Ivo Dominguez Jr.'s book of essays, Beneath the Skins: The New Spirit and Politics of the Kink Community (1994). Illustration by Ken W. Kelly from the cover of John Norman's Kajira of Gor (1983).
January 4, 2026 at 9:18 PM
Today! Join us at 3pm for the first Kink Klass of 2026 w/ Master Leather Redux!

Maybe flogging will be your new fetish to explore this year 😉
January 4, 2026 at 4:58 PM
Cover of Reflections magazine, edited by Mistress Antoinette. The LA&M is missing many issues of Reflections. Do you have them? 🎁
January 3, 2026 at 8:47 PM
Quote from For a Pornoscape by Paul Willemen (in More Dirty Looks, 2004). Photo from Heat (Nov 1991).
January 2, 2026 at 5:26 PM
New Year, New Kink! Kick the year off with some hit, kinky fun. It’s the first Kink Klass of 2026, with Master Leather Redux and Raea. Sunday the 4th, at 3pm. Free and open to everyone! Details online at leatherarchives.libcal.com/event/15518506
January 2, 2026 at 12:08 AM
Centurian's Latex and Leather Catalog No 8 (1992), donated by Centurian to the LA&M collections.
January 1, 2026 at 5:05 PM
We appreciate you. Visibility is Resistance. Be as open and present as you can, and support others who are doing the same. Lift each other up. Be loud. And may 2026 be a better year for you, your loved ones, and for all of us.
January 1, 2026 at 1:13 AM
Quote from Helen Henley's introduction to her novel Enter With Trumpets (1989). Henley wrote an advice column for Atomage and Dressing for Pleasure. Photo of Henley from DfP No 13.
December 31, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Sam Steward (aka Phil Andros), writer, tattoo artist, professor, pornographer, and infamous renaissance man of the erotic arts died on December 31, 1993 at the age of 84. Original tattoo flash stencils, artwork, and stories by Steward are archived at the LA&M.
December 31, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Y'all we live in a world where queer history is being erased. LA&M fights to protect the art, artifacts and archives that document leather, fetish, kink and BDSM culture. That is why we, and other museums, libraries and archives, exist! Help with that work as you are able. leatherarchives.info/2025
December 30, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Astuto died on December 30, 2019. Did you know Cynthia? Donate photos and memories of her to the LA&M to help preserve her legacy in the community archive. 🖤
December 30, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Cynthia Astuto was a lawyer, healer, and member of Samois, a trailblazing lesbian feminist S/M group in San Francisco. Cynthia was later an officer of The Outcasts and served as orientation leader in the mid to late 1980s.
December 30, 2025 at 5:09 PM
The post-holiday sale is here! Get some great buys on holiday merch, but jump fast cause when it’s gone, it’s gone!
lamgifts.com/collections/...
December 29, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Quote from Come Hither by Gloria G. Brame (2000). Photo from Toy No 44 (1985).
December 28, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Oregon State Leatherman and Leatherwoman titleholders, from the Bill "The Hun" Schmeling collection. #LeatherCommunity
December 28, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Quote from Down Again by Ellen Willis (in Salmagundi No 81, 1989). Photo from Mister SM No 38 (1983).
December 27, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Panther L/L (1988-2019) was a pangender leather club, founded by former members of the Charlotte Tradesmen on May 16, 1988. Panther L/L members raised funds for charity and participated in community service as a club. Patch from the LA&M patch library. #LeatherClubs
December 27, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Cyll died on December 27, 2006. Did you know Cyll? Donate photos and memories of him to the LA&M. 🖤
December 27, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Cyll Sheppard was a veteran of the first Gulf War, founding member of the Seattle Boys of Leather and Seattle Daddy's Boy 2001. He volunteered at many leather events.
December 27, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Chees died on December 26, 2004. Did you know Patrick? Contact the LA&M to help preserve his memory in the community archive. 🖤
December 26, 2025 at 10:59 PM