leatherarchives: Bootblacks, Bootblack contest producers, and folk who’ve supported our Bootblacks o
leatherarchives: Bootblacks, Bootblack contest producers, and folk who’ve supported our Bootblacks over the years/collected their history*: I’ve been seeing some *amazing* threads this past week that contain details about the history of the Leather community Bootblacks and our contests. As the Vice President of LA&M’s Board of Directors *and* the director/producer of “High Shine: 15 Years Of International Ms Bootblack” (i.e., someone who’s spent a heap of time in LA&M looking for and locating Bootblack history!) I wish to encourage those of you sharing details about Bootblack history not only to post this history on social media…but to take the time to write out this history and locate the documentation/evidential support of the statements and get the materials over to LA&M for long-term preservation. Remember: LA&M is a community archive, and that means it is “by the people, for the people,” so, if you had a hand in the history (or have the documents preserved in a private collection) but haven’t shared it with LA&M, then that history may not be there for the community and researchers to access…and that is a very risky thing/the path toward us losing our history. Posting this information on social media is wonderful, and it gives those who see the threads immediate information…but it is not long-term, it is not a primary source (which is important for scholars and historians), and it is not being seen by everyone who needs to see it (ex. non-Leather/kinky art curators who are doing research/curating exhibits on the relationships between sexuality and hands) and preserved for those in the future who seek this information for community or scholarly reasons. We are at a very exciting time with regard to those with interest in Bootblack history. If you have some of that history–or are one of those history makers–PLEASE begin the process of collecting your documents, records, photos and getting those materials to LA&M. Contrary to what I’ve seen some folks say in these threads about history, LA&M *DOES* consider all materials for their collections… but they need to know via provenance/documentation/context why it is something we must save at LA&M/why it has historical significance. For more information about how to do this, please reach out to Jakob VanLammeren, the LA&M archivist via the “Contact the Archivist” link at http://leatherarchives.org/contact.html. This is the fastest way to get an answer and begin that conversation (i.e., please message him at LA&M rather than via a PM via social media). To donate, you must first complete a donation agreement form and submit it via paper or electronically before sending us the materials/items. You can find the electronic donation agreement (and its terms) here: http://leatherarchives.org/donatecollections.html REMEMBER: don’t just donate an object to LA&M…provide documentation about what it is, who it represents, and why it is valuable to our history…the more provenance we have, the more ways an item can be used in research! Thank you for helping LA&M preserve our history and expand what it has about Leather community Bootblacks! And please share this information with others who may not see this post but need to get this information! #LeatherArchives #BootblackVisibility -- source link