Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Custodial History
Processing Information
Biography
Scope and Content of Collection
Title: William A. Rhoads Nude Male photographs
Identifier/Call Number: Coll2008.026
Contributing Institution:
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
1.25 linear feet.
Date (inclusive): circa 1975-1981
Abstract: Nude photographs of male hitchhikers on Pacific Coast Highway between Santa Monica and Santa Barbara taken by amateur photographer
William A. Rhoads, circa 1975-1981.
creator:
Rhoads, William A.
Access
The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.
Publication Rights
Publication of images in this collection is restricted until 2061.
Preferred Citation
William A. Rhoads Nude Male Photographs, Coll2008-026, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Joseph Carrier,
June 2006.
Custodial History
Upon Rhoads' death, following instructions left to the executor of his estate, all his photographs were given to Joseph Carrier,
who donated the collection to ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives in June 2006.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Michael P. Palmer,
June 3, 2008.
Processing this collection has been funded by a generous grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Biography
William A. Rhoads earned a PhD in botany, and worked for defense contractor EG&G (Egerton, Germeshausen, and Grier), Inc.,
studying the effects of radiation on plants for the Atomic Energy Commission. He spent his weekends in a small house he owned
near Venice Beach, but lived weekdays in Goleta, where EG&G's Santa Barbara Operations were based. He died of congenital heart
disease in the early 1980s.
Source: Letter from Joseph Carrier to Gregory L. Williams. August 3, 2006.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection consists of nude photographs of males, and in one instance of a male-female couple, most apparently picked
up hitchhiking along the Pacific Coast Highway on the northward journey from Santa Monica to Santa Barbara. Approximately
a third of the models are identified, and their photographs dated; a list of these models is available with the collection,
but for privacy reasons they are identified in this finding aid only by initials. The remaining photographs are not identified,
and are not dated. An account by Joseph Carrier of the circumstances under which the photographs were taken is included with
the collection. Between Rhoads' death and the acquisition of the collection by ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives many of
the prints and virtually all the negatives in the original collection were damaged beyond repair by high humidity; many of
the surviving photographs are heavily warped.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Rhoads, William A.
Gay erotic photography
Photographs
Photography of men
Photography of the nude