Collections

The Leonore Tiefer Collection contains over 900 monographs extensively covering topics such as Women's Studies, Feminism, Clinical Psychology, and Human Sexuality. Her collection also includes several educational videos, educational slides, and personal photo albums of attended professional conferences. Archival collection currently being processed.

The collection consists of four sections containing 65 archival folders covering the years 1966-1978: 1) Organizational information and correspondence includes meeting minutes, financial information, social activities, press releases, media relations, chapter information, calendars, and correspondence to/from the SFL and its religious offshoot, the Psychedelic Venus Church. 2) Newsletters consist of the pre-publication notes and correspondence dealing with the Sexual Freedom League Newsletter. 3) News Clippings contains newspaper and magazine articles on the topics of sex, gender, reproduction, women's rights, homosexual rights, nude beaches, and newsletters and flyers from other sex-related organizations. 4) Art and Objects consists of sex-related items.

The Kenneth R. Haslam, MD collection at The Kinsey Institute contains materials related to polyamory. It consists of conference materials, Internet resources, media coverage, and research articles, as well as Dr Haslam's personal correspondence and papers originally delivered at poly-oriented meetings, sex research and sex therapy conferences. Additionally, there are materials from several other donors relating to research, media response, and community communications and publications. The bulk of the collection represents the work of Dr. Haslam and other poly-activists from 2000 to the present, with contributions from earlier polyamory writers and activists dating from the 1970's. Dr. Haslam's decision to develop the polyamory collection at The Kinsey Institute reflects his interest in providing information and educating the public about polyamorous relationships. The collection includes biographical information about Kenneth Haslam, who has been a leader in organizing and documenting the polyamory community, and in introducing polyamory into the academic sphere. Dr. Haslam's presentations, featured in this collection, are geared towards educating professionals, practitioners, the public and the poly-community; they form a framework for understanding polyamory, along with snapshots of the lifestyles and communities. Many different polyamory groups and communities are represented in the collection, including the 1970's Kerista Community and the Church of All Worlds in the U.S., and international materials, such as Dutch language publications from The Netherlands. The collection also contains newsletters that were the precursors of Loving More magazine, a complete collection of Loving More magazine. The vast array of Internet community resources includes list-servs, blogs and journals, and websites. Examples are archives of the website "Polyamorous Percolations," "Swingercast," the swingers' podcast, Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness materials, and archives of various web-based discussion groups. There is a polyamory bibliography containing a variety of materials, including books on the subject that are held by the Kinsey Institute.

The International Academy of Sex Research collection consists of correspondence relevant to academy elections, membership, conferences, publications, and day-to-day operations between the years 1976 and 2002. It also contains some financial information—primarily IASR bank statements, bank stubs, and photocopies of checks from dues.

The Ihlenfeld Collection includes the writings, correspondence, and lecture notes of Dr. Charles L. Ihlenfeld as well as materials on the work of Dr. Harry Benjamin and Dr. Ihlenfeld's research, clippings files, and audio cassettes of interviews and radio appearances. The materials were collected between the late 1960's and the mid-1990's.

Alex Comfort, Ph.D., (1920-2000) was a British biochemist, physician, sex researcher and author of numerous works including The Joy of Sex (1972), which sold over 12 million copies. This collection contains material on homosexuality, bondage, sexual health, etc. These items were used by Comfort for research for his book "Joy of Sex". There is also material related to the Sandstone experimental sexual community where Comfort lived for a short time.

The Hatfield Collection contains materials related to Elaine Hatfield, a professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii. This collection contains biographical materials, items related to the criticism of her work from Senator William Proxmire (D-Wisc), video materials and other miscellaneous items.

The collection of Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935), German physician and sex researcher who is credited with founding the German homosexual rights movement. This collection contains contents from a scrapbook compiled by Carl Hoefft with an eye towards eventual publication. Materials include invitations, articles, books, pamphlets, posters, handbills, letters, questionnaires, speeches, legal documents and a horoscope. Most materials are in German.

The Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) was founded in 1993 by Cheryl Chase, herself an intersexual who underwent female sex assignment and clitorectomy in early childhood. Her goal was to support and advocate for intersexuals by increasing awareness and acceptance of their various conditions and by discouraging medical professionals from surgically assigning gender to intersexed infants who are unable to consent to the procedure. In 2003 Cheryl retired from her position as director of the ISNA, passing the direction of the organization to Monica Casper, with Jane Goto acting as her assistant. In a posting on the bodieslikeours.org message boards in June 2003, Monica Casper described the goals of the ISNA very clearly: "Our mission is to end shame, secrecy and unwanted surgery for people with intersex conditions. We are a policy/advocacy organization working toward systemic social change… At the heart of ISNA's mission is fostering social acceptance of all bodies – be they intersex or not, trans or not, queer or not – and fostering informed consent for people to decide what happens to their bodies. Many people with intersex conditions have choice stripped from them when they are operated on as children, while many trans people have choice stripped from them when they are unable to obtain the surgical care they want and need." This collection contains a great deal of correspondence from people with intersex conditions looking for information and support, from urologists and sexologists, and from people affected by ISNA's many press releases who wish to express support. The collection also includes a huge number of academic articles on intersex issues as well as popular press articles intended to raise awareness about intersex issues. Key Members and their positions at the time of these materials: Cheryl Chase, Founding Director (1993-2003) Monica Casper, Director (2003) Alice Dreger, Chair (1996-2005) Robin Mathias, Chief Financial Officer (2001- ) Sherri Groveman, Treasurer and Founder of the Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group Jane Goto, Operations Manager (2003- )

Alice Withrow Field (1909-1960) was a sex researcher, criminologist and social scientist. This collection is comprised of papers, statistical and criminal reports, professional correspondence, research notes, manuscripts, charts, publication drafts, and legal information regarding criminal cases of sexual offenders and the relevant penal codes for New York City. The two foci of the collection are materials pertaining to the New York City Sex Offender study, and materials concerning cases in the Women's Court and Wayward Minors' Court.