What to do with old gay books, magazine, ads, etc.?

Give it to a retirement home.

You can take some pictures of the collection and send them to university libraries - some of them collect this. I AI for which libraries are known for this and one of the top was Cornell University — Human Sexuality Collection (Ithaca, NY) "One of the most important collections worldwide. Deep in gay history, sexology, activism, pulp fiction, gay pop culture, pornographic material, activist newsletters, zines, personal papers."

I know there’s a gay history archive in S.F.

You could call them - they’ll know who needs stuff, if they’re full up

There’s probably more than one in S.F., actually - but I see a “GLBT Historical Society Archives” listed….

In the Calvin Klein jeans photos, are there photos of model Barry Kaufman& another man in CK jeans holding on to each other. Some pics were of Barry& another man posing in wet CK underwear.

I would just throw it out.

I'll take the porn.

Barry Kaufman changed his name to Robert Tyler.

I donated my gay books to an organization that sends them to prison inmates. The books they wanted most were mysteries & thrillers, cookbooks, and anything gay, the last of which surprised me.

The organization was called the Thomas Merton Center, in Pittsburgh. I imagine there are similar organizations around the country.

Just leave it for your family or your landlord to take care of it when they clean out your place looking for hidden money after you die.

Donate it to an all boys Catholic High School!

Nobody wants those early 80s Details magazines, please send them to me for disposal.

I should take inventory and make a list of what I have.

Carefully try to unstick the pages.

Children can never have enough books. Hand them out to kids in your neighborhood.

Sounds like “little free library” gold to me.

You can auction them off or sell them on "Adult Stuff Only"

Most of this stuff has been catalogued online - it's highly doubtful you would have any unique piece that would be historically or culturally relevant. Particularly porno.

Throw it out.

Yeah all of the porn is in Google Books now, right?

[quote]Children can never have enough books. Hand them out to kids in your neighborhood.

Great suggestion--I'll save them for Halloween!

Try the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at USC. They might be interested.

In Chicago, Gerber Hart will take them. Check around - these are treasures.

But for God sake's, get them out of your house you perv.

I will echo the idea of giving the magazines to university libraries, especially research universities.

Old issues of gay mags like the Advocate from the 80s could be quite valuable for research purposes.

When I was moving a few years back, I donated my old copies of the Advocate and Out Magazine from the 90s to a nearby university. They were quite happy to take them. Said my copies would fill in some of the blanks in their collection. Said the the copies they didn't need, they would offer to other university libraries through their inter-library connections.

They can also likely suggest good places to donate the old porn and Calvin Klein collection.

Antiques Roadshow.

Expert: "Normally, these items would only be worth face value, but my team and I got really excited when we saw this! You have not only the March 1984 Inches magazine in PRISTINE condition, but also the September 1991 Honcho magazine! I've only seen 2 others like this in my entire life. This is extremely collectible - auction estimates may vary because they so rarely go up for auction, but for insurance purposes, I would put these at $100,000-$150,00 EACH!"

Said no one ever. It's garbage - throw it out.

Some of the best material could also go to a rare book dealer who handles that kind of thing. There are a few who sell this stuff. Some of the superannuated elder hoarders here might have salable items.

Look for people with ABAA membership.

Don’t bring that crap around my kid!

I've had good luck selling gay magazines on eBay. I've sold issues of After Dark, Stallion, Torso, Playgirl, and Advocate Classifieds.

A couple years back a former co-worker gifted me a box of 1970s and 1980s magazines, and I made $300-$400 on the sales. Porn is porn, but personally I loved reading the old After Darks.

Chuck them in the gay garbage

You need to borrow my laminator?

I gave mine away to goodwill. Books.

Donate it to the Christian Science Monitor reading room near you.

Cut the pictures out and make a collage.

Miss Lindsey will happily accept any back issues of "Black Inches."

The night before paper recycling is collected in your neighborhood, go to the house of the most rightwing MAGA neighbor you have and leave a tied up stack of the magazines at the curb.

Be sure to put an ultra raunchy magazine cover on top of the bundle.

R33 - odds are - those will NOT go in the trash.

[quote] Miss Lindsey will happily accept any back issues of "Black Inches."

R32 So will Clarence “Long Dong Silver” Thomas.

I though eBay got rid of their adults only section and auctions a few years ago

Yeah, I used to sell my used porn on Ebay, but I thought they no longer had an adults section. I still have a box full of old Colt magazines and various other things that I would like to sell.

Digitize and donate the hard copies to a library or a gay organziation.

R38, what’s the process to digitize?

There’s plenty of raunchy stuff on eBay.

R37 there is a website called Adult Stuff Only that you can sell or auction stuff on.

Donate to libraries or youth shelters.

The Stonewall Museum and Archived in Ft Lauderdale accepts some materials but you have to contact them first.

When I was young in the late 90s and early 2000s, I used to buy a bunch of gay porn magazines every month and stash them. Eventually there got to be a lot of them, and when I outgrew them, around the year 2010 or so, I sold them all on eBay and made hundreds of dollars. But I should mention two things. One, I was a freak about keeping all my stuff in perfect condition, so they were all very clean. And two, this was about 15 years ago when I sold them, so I don’t know if people are still interested in them or not.

It’s not just the magazines, the books sell too, like the old Leyland stuff. Boyd McDonald etc.

Next weekend, leave them on the curb outside your nearest Sunday School

The Lord Won’t Mind

You can sell them at the next church rummage sale!

R7, the Thomas Merton Center wants gay novels?

I have a collection of gay mysteries. I'd rather donate them than toss them.

If you want them out of the house by a certain date, just put an ad on craigslist in the "for free" listings... or any local gay online bullitin board.

don't throw them out. someone will be grateful to pick them up.

I researched this very topic to help a needy friend generate revenue from all male dvds. As stated above the adult listings on ebay appeared to be shut down in 2021.

R48, the phone number is 412-212-7004. Call them first to see what they’re looking for.

This is in Pittsburgh, BTW.

R48, there is also a website; pghprisonbookproject.org

The Leslie-Lohman Museum in NYC would be able to help you figure out what ephemera might have value and who might wnat it.

OP post what you have here and if it’s anything interesting I’ll take it off your hands.

Sell them

R50 and R51, thank you.

not to state the obvious, but relatively few copies of gay related books / mags / videos were ever sold printed or published prior to everything going digital or online...

as time passes, all of that will be of interest to someone because they will become quite rare.

…especially if the copies aren’t dog-eared with the pages stuck together.

Donate them to an LGBT society or museum, seriously. I've donated a few items, locally.