Caucasian and African American male physique and nude black and white photographs (mostly 4 in. x 5 in. and 5 in. x 8 in.), undated

The Richard P. Wunder male physique and nude photographs, 1940s-1980s, consist primarily of photographic prints of men in physique poses, candid nude shots, and sexually explicit scenes, collected by Wunder over the course of his life. According to Wunder's nephew Robert Taylor, Wunder was gay and collected and distributed physique and nude male images from his dorm room as a student at Harvard College in the 1940s. Wunder is said to have used a so-called "positive-negative machine" to reproduce male physique and nude photographs which he distributed to other men around the east coast. Evidence in the collection of Wunder's technique of image reproduction and distribution include examples of paper contact negatives and multiple positive reproductions, as well as one example of a hand-crafted booklet with individual positive reproductions pasted in. Additionally, there are numerous examples of black and white silver gelatin photographic prints produced by photography studios or taken as amateur candid shots. Some of the nude physique photographs show evidence that false posing straps were painted over the models' genitals but have since been partially scratched or worn off. A small number of the photos contain identifying information about the models, the studios (including Athletic Model Guild, Western Photography Guild, Directory Services, Inc., and Centaur's Domain), or the catalog numbers of the prints. Of note are several early prints by the German photographer Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden, who was known for his classical photographs of male youth in Taormina, Sicily between 1890 and 1910. The collection also contains a photographic volume published in 1977 about von Gloeden's photographs and a matted pen and ink with pencil drawing of male sexual activity.