Leather Archives And Museum — Attraction in Rogers Park Township

To be honest, I didn't know it was an R rated museum...

The museum popped up on my Facebook as a recommended museum. I didn't bother reading any reviews or anything beforehand because I didn't want anyone's opinion- I wanted to form my own!

So there I go on 3/23/2018 and asked the front desk staff if students or military members get discounts. I was generously given a discount on my admission price (thank you) and was asked to use the free lockers to store my purse and jacket.

There's a video in the locker room showing how leather jackets are cleaned and repaired but as soon as I took down the flight of stairs, I realized that by "leather," they didn't mean cowboys and horses but bondage and dominance.

If you are religious, get offended easily, are immature, or are homophobic- stay out of this museum. It's not for you.

Consider going to the Field Museum instead.

Thanks for...

Super cool museum, so important to tell these histories!! I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of women & nb people represented in the museum :( there’s a section for women like Gayle Rubin etc, which i appreciated, but it was strange to have them in a separate section.

There was also an entire exhibit dedicated to religious-sexual art parallels, which I was thrilled about as a religious scholar, but unfortunately the paintings were (basically) 100% cis men :( let’s get some fabián cháirez in there ‼️‼️‼️ let’s talk about jesus’ side wound as portrayal of a queer body & a conduit for lesbian love in the middle ages!

It’s a great museum, and I’m giving it 5 stars regardless, but I’d call it a museum of cis gay men’s history more than general...

This place is a testament to the power of the leather community. It’s not just whips and jackets it’s community care and love that holds this crew together. As you go through the archives you will see intimate histories of the people who built homes for themselves and others. There are binders of patches and stickers from across the country. Amazing art that celebrates the community as well as Tons of informative work. This place also contains a very good library of lgbtq texts that is a must for anyone interested in lgbtq history or literature. They have fiction, non fiction, pulp, photography works you name it...