Provenance & Preservation: Chuck Renslow's Gold Coast Vest

Описание: Video two in our Leather Preservation Series.

Not only do we know your history... we display it, we make it accessible and most importantly, we preserve it!

The Leather Archives & Museum Leather preservation project focuses on care for the collection of leather textiles at the LA&M. Project co-founder Leslie Anderson has selected the Chuck Renslow Gold Coast vest for conservation procedures. Filmmaker Christina Court documented not only the conservation work, but also context and provenance for the vest. The resulting film is an educational tool for anyone interested in leather, bootblacking, history or preservation.

Ask just about any Leatherman or leatherwoman you meet who Chuck Renslow is, and you'll get an answer right away. Here are some of the answers: He was the founder in 1950 and photographer of Kris Studios, one of the earliest and most durable of the physique houses (and the one where leather always had a place). He was also a noted photographer of the Ballet. His dance photography is now in the Newberry Library dance collection In the “Chuck Renslow Dance Photographs” collection. He opened the first leather bar, the Gold Coast in Chicago, in 1958. He was the publisher of Triumph, Mars and Rawhide Male magazines. He was a founder of Second City Motorcycle Club, the first club not on the West coast, in 1965. He was the founder of many bars and sex clubs since the 1960s, including Mans Country, which has survived for more than 40 years. He was among the earliest member, often among the founders, of many gay liberation organizations and movements. He has sat on the Board of fourteen different LGBT organizations. He was the founder of Prairie State Democratic Club in 1980. He was the former owner of the Chicago Eagle. He is the founder of Chicago’s famous White Party, which almost no one notices is his birthday party. Other answers have to do with his friends and lovers: He was the lover of Dom “Etienne” Orejudos for more than 40 years and, by encouraging him and publishing his work, he is partially responsible for the art of Etienne. He was involved with Cliff Raven, Chuck Arnett and Sam “Phil Andros” Steward and encouraged them in their famous work, too.