Bobby Kork Photographs,[1940-1954]

Collection Number: 7652

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library


DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
Bobby Kork photographs, [1940-1954].
Collection Number:
7652
Creator:
Bobby Kork
Quantity:
.1 cubic ft.
Forms of Material:
Photographs.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
The first group of 17 personal photos, one album and two loose prints, are a mix of full-length drag portraits taken at home and candid photos taken of Bobby and his friends in a gay lounge. The second group, one album containing 126 photos, is from his personal collection and features gay men from the World War II period. These are all roughly wallet-size photos, hand-colored. The photos include about an equal percentage of portrait and physique images of men ranging in age from teens to 30s or 40s. The third group contains 27 original black and white photographs, all of young gay men in casual home settings, mostly indoors or out on the lawn. The photos in each of the albums are of the same young men, some clothed and some semi-nude. Dating on a few of the photos indicates 1953 and 1954.
Language:
Collection material in English


BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Bobby Kork was a gay man and cross-dresser who performed as a hermaphrodite (which he probably was not) in the circuses of the 1940s and 1950s.

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The first group of 17 personal photos, one album and two loose prints, are a mix of full-length drag portraits taken at home and candid photos taken of Bobby and his friends in a gay lounge. The second group, one album containing 126 photos, is from his personal collection and features gay men from the World War II period. These are all roughly wallet-size photos, hand-colored. The photos include about an equal percentage of portrait and physique images of men ranging in age from teens to 30s or 40s. The third group contains 27 original black and white photographs, all of young gay men in casual home settings, mostly indoors or out on the lawn. The photos in each of the albums are of the same young men, some clothed and some semi-nude. Dating on a few of the photos indicates 1953 and 1954.
SUBJECTS

Names:
Kork, Bobby.

Subjects:
Circus performers
Circus workers
Gay men.
Hermaphroditism.
Photography of men.
Transvestites

Form and Genre Terms:
Photographs.


INFORMATION FOR USERS

Cite As:
Bobby Kork photographs, #7652. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

RELATED MATERIALS

Collecting Program: Human Sexuality Collection.

CONTAINER LIST

Container
Description
(Online container list not available.)