College Wrestles With Kinsey's Porn Collection

Indiana University wonders about showcasing his stag films
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 31, 2010 2:18 PM CST
College Wrestles With Kinsey's Porn Collection
June 1952: American biologist Alfred Charles Kinsey (1894-1956).   (Getty Images)

Indiana University is about to open a new cinema to show off the school's own film holdings—unremarkable until you consider that those holdings include 14,000 pornographic movies belonging to sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. Among those are 2,000 one-reel stag films going back to the 1920s, a unique bit of film history that's thought to be the biggest collection anywhere. Still, don't expect to be lining up for "stag nights" at the cinema anytime soon, because, as the Chicago Tribune explains, the university is "both proud and touchy" about Kinsey's legacy.

Those dying for a peek, though, might stay tuned. The director of Kinsey's library wants to raise awareness of the stag films so they can be preserved. "We will look forward to creative, tasteful programming so more students, more interested public and more faculty and scholars would know the treasures we have." The chair of the school's communication and culture department is all for it because people have been making porn for as long as cameras have been available. "It's basically been unacknowledged and unwritten, so making that visible seems to be important." (More Kinsey Institute stories.)

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