The Harris-Wheeler Collection documents the efforts of Alvin S. Harris, an amateur erotic photographer, and Richard "Dick" Oliver Wheeler, an enthusiast, to collect, share, and sell cross-dressing and sexual fetish materials, including literature, photographs, periodicals, catalogs, and other types of sexually explicit content. Notable figures represented in the collection include Irving Claw, John Willie, Louise Lawrence, and Christine Jorgensen. The bulk of the collection was created between 1950 and 1979.

Alvin S. Harris was an amateur erotic photographer, who lived in the San Francisco Bay area. He specialized in "bizarre photography" and collected materials on cross-dressing, lingerie, fetishes, and erotic literature. Beginning in the 1930s, he photographed much of this material and sold it. Harris corresponded with many men and women active in cross-dressing and trans culture and was a close friend to Louise Lawrence, well known trans community organizer. When Harris married in the 1950s, his wife asked that he dispose of the collection, and so he gifted it to his friend, Richard "Dick" Oliver Wheeler.

15.88 linear feet

Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge. Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

The collection is open for research use.