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Title: Alan Selby collection
Dates: circa 1965-2015
Collection Number: 1999-63
Creator/Collector:
Extent: 10 linear feet (six cartons, one oversized box, and two large art pieces)
Repository:
GLBT Historical Society
San Francisco, California 94103
Abstract: Alan Selby was a leader in the San Francisco leather community. Known as “Daddy Alan,” he owned Mr. S Leather, organized numerous
fundraising events and campaigns, and volunteered regularly for service organizations, including those related to HIV/AIDS.
This collection consists largely of Selby’s personal items and memorabilia, with a limited amount of materials on paper.
Language of Material: English
Collection is open for research, with the exception of one folder in Carton 5 which contains mailing lists, and which has
been restricted until 2024, twenty years after their last plausible date of creation.
Copyright to material has been transferred to the GLBT Historical Society, with the exception of material created by Jordy
Tackitt-Jones. All requests for reproductions and/or permission to publish or quote from material must be submitted in writing
to the GLBT Historical Society Archivist. Permission for reproductions and/or permission to publish or quote from material
is given on behalf of the GLBT Historical Society as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Alan Selby collection. Collection Number: 1999-63. GLBT Historical Society
The collection was donated to the GLBT Historical Society in several different accretions by several different individuals:
Alan Selby in 1994, 1999, and 2002; Tony Koester in 2008; and Jordy Tackitt-Jones in 2018.
Biography/Administrative History
Alan Selby was a leader in the San Francisco leather community. Known as “Daddy Alan,” he owned Mr. S Leather, organized numerous
fundraising events and campaigns, and volunteered regularly for service organizations, including those related to HIV/AIDS.
Selby was born in London, served in the Second World War as a medic and nurse, and became a gentlemen’s clothier before a
1969 visit to San Francisco helped him to recognize his personal and professional interest in leather. He and his partner,
Peter Jacklin, established a small factory and retail outlet called Leather Unlimited before moving to San Francisco together
in 1979 and founding Mr. S. Leather in the SoMa district. Selby died in 2004.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection consists largely of Selby’s personal items and memorabilia, with a limited amount of materials on paper (see
container listing for details). It also includes a leather vest owned by Mason Cartmell and a sign for Pride parade leather
marshal, as well as two large art pieces created as tributes to Selby: a decorated leather jacket by Bill Bowers, and Danyol
Leon’s piece “Daddy Alan in Belts.” GSSO linked terms: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_000374; http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_001236;
http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_000268
Gay men
Leather
Kink