Larry Townsend collection

Collection

Call Number: MS 1975

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of publications authored, compiled by, or edited by Larry Townsend and published by his publishing house, L. T. Publications. The publications include fiction and comics and are illustrated with drawings and photographs. The collection also includes works by others, including catalogs for products for the leather lifestyle, comics, a manual, and an autobiographical work. A few of these items include letters and inscriptions to Townsend. The publications document the gay male leather community and sadomasochistic sexual practices through fiction, nonfiction, drawings, photographs, and product catalogs.

Dates

1972-1999

Creator

Townsend, Larry

Language of Materials

The materials are in English and German.

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright status for collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Transferred by the Librarian for Gay and Lesbian Studies, 2010.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged by author and title.

Extent

2.5 Linear Feet (5 boxes)

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.1975

Additional Description

Overview

Biographical / Historical

Larry Townsend (pseudonym for Bernhardt) was born on October 27, 1930. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1950-1954. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1957, and pursued graduate study at the State University of California, Los Angeles. He became involved in the leather community of Los Angeles in the early 1960s and became an activist in the late 1960s, serving as the president of the “Homophile Effort for Legal Protection” in 1972. As a novelist, photographer, and publisher, he both chronicled and shaped the gay leather community from the late 1960s to 2008, the year of his death. He authored many books and articles on leather and sadomasochism, including The Leatherman’s Handbook, published in 1971. Additionally, he published his own work, as well as that of others, through his publishing house, L. T. Publications. Many of his works have been reprinted by other publishers. Townsend died on July 29, 2008.