Loren Rex Cameron papers, 1961-2008
Collection Number: 7677

Loren Rex Cameron, a female to male transsexual and photographer of transgendered bodies, was born August 28, 1959 in Pasadena, California. Self-taught as a photographer and artist, he began producing self-portraits and images of transgender people in 1993. By 1995 his work had been shown in solo exhibitions in San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles. His first photographic book, Body Alchemy: Transsexual Portraits was published in 1996, winning two Lambda Literary awards (Inaugural Transgender Category and Small Press Category, 1997). In 2001, he published his second publication, an electronic book on the World Wide Web, Man Tool: The Nuts and Bolts of Female-To-Male Surgery (Zero eBooks). In 2003, Taller Experimental Cuerpos Pintados published his large, 2 volume Cuerpos Fotografiados por Cameron, with a prologue by Roberto Edwards, and also Cameron : Correspondencia 1997-2001. An English language edition of Correspondencia appreared the following year and a miniature version of Cuerpos Fotografiados por Cameron came out in 2009. Cameron is celebrated for his seminal work of transgender self-representation in the photographic arts. As a guest speaker, Cameron lectures extensively throughout the United States at community venues, colleges, universities, and art schools. He has published under the name Loren Cameron, and in about 2000, he started going by his middle name Rex.

The Loren Rex Cameron papers document the professional and personal life of photographer Loren Rex Cameron dating 1961-2008. The bulk of materials range from 1993-2003. It contains photographs from various works, including "Our Vision, Our Voices," 1993, and "God's Will," 1994, as well as exhibition materials. The collection also includes correspondence to and from galleries, publishers, and others about Cameron's work, videos, awards, reviews, fan mail, viewers' comments from a 1998 exhibit, magazines and books that feature his work, and postcards advertising various exhibits. Personal material in the collection includes an annotated high school yearbook (1976, Dover, Arkansas), a 20th year reunion booklet, photographs of Rex's family and partner Stephanie Lind, and change of gender and name forms.

Patrons viewing the collection in the reading room may take photographs of the material for research purposes only. These images are prohibited from being reused or shared in any way or medium without prior approval of the curator of the Human Sexuality Collection or the designee of the University Librarian. High resolution or other reproductions, as well as any publication or dissemination in any form or media requires the permission of the curator of the Human Sexuality Collection or the designee of the University Librarian.

Due to the fragility and potential degradation of moving image and sound recordings, viewing and listening is limited to items that have been digitized. If an item is in another media format, you may request to have the item digitized for access. Information on ordering access copies may be found on the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections webpage. Audio visual material that has been digitized: V-558.

Folder 1 in Manuscript Box 76 restricted until 2024.

Loren Cameron papers, #7677. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

Additional works by Loren Cameron are cataloged individually.

Online Alchemy the Art of Loren Cameron, a website by Loren Cameron.

The following materials have been separated from the collection and cataloged individually:

Anne Sexton: A Biography by Diane Wood Middlebrook, 1991. Signed by the author on the title page, also inscribed to Loren by the author on the front free endpaper. A laid in letter from Middlebrook to Loren was removed and is in Box 2 Folder 63. Middlebrook endorsed the back cover of Loren Cameron's book Body Alchemy.

Information for the Female to Male Cross Dresser and Transexual by Lou Sullivan, third edition October 1990. Inscribed by the author to Loren. Sullivan signed this book to Cameron before he went through dissolution (died). Cameron met him in the very beginning of Cameron's transition and attended the first FTM support gropus that Sullivan organized. This is the organization known as FTM International that was last expanded by Sullivan's chosen successor, Jameson Green.

S/HE by Minnie Bruce Pratt, 1995. Inscribed by the author to Loren. A laid in letter from the author to Loren and a Firebrand Books card were removed and are] in Box 2 Folder 63.

Blumenstein, Rosalyne. Branded T. 2003.

Boy's Own. No.40-41, 2003: Apr.-Aug.

Brevard, Aleshia. The Woman I Was Not Born To Be: A Transsexual Journey. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001.

Complot. No.77, July 2003.

FTM Resource Guide. San Francisco: FTM International, 6th ed., Oct. 1999.