About Us

History of the
San Diego Leather History Project

In the early part of 2003, a group of individuals collectively realized the need to preserve San Diego’s rich BDSM / Leather / Fetish history. Those individuals helped found the idea of the San Diego Leather History Project (SDLHP).

It wasn’t until 2005 that the SDLHP kicked into high gear; working long hard hours and meticulously searching through massive amounts of donated materials. The donated materials were items like old periodical collections and bound publications, and along with countless personal and business correspondences – both written and email. The search for knowledge also took the Project onto the World-Wide Web with the endless endeavors to find information on the history of San Diego’s Leather community.

This realization of preserving our Leather History inspired many community members and friends and family of community members to start digging through their and their past loved ones’ closets and donating their past treasures for research and display.

The SDLHP was faithfully updated and shared through 2011. In 2011, collection of new artifacts stopped, but it was carefully stored and maintained by it’s founder in the following years.

Current status of the
San Diego Leather History Project

In late 2023, twenty years after it’s creation, the founder and keeper of the SDLHP reached out to the community and asked for volunteers to assume the maintenance and growth of the project. Two individuals stepped up and happily assumed this role.

At this time, we are exploring and starting to archive the contents of the library, as well as beginning to share our history with the current Leather community. 

Our ongoing efforts include:

  1. Creation of a continuously updated, accurate, and complete Leather Timeline for San Diego
  2. Cataloguing the contents of the library
  3. Conversion of historical materials to digital format for preservation
  4. Collecting oral histories from long-time community members
  5. Presenting displays of our history at community events