Why a Blog

So, people keep telling me I should keep a blog because there's never a dull moment when you live at the Tom of Finland Foundation! I'm the Library Director & International Liaison as well as a resident in Tom of Finland's Home in Los Angeles, which is also a Foundation and erotic art archive (more about that later). I'll be here up until Feb 26 at which point I'll be flying with my boyfriend Wiki Wickman to go live with him in Helsinki. Wiki (pronounced Vicky) took care of Tom during the last 2 years of his life. Tom wanted to pass in Finland and our Foundation President-Durk Dehner needed to be here in Los Angeles to manage the Foundation. So when he met my dear kind Wiki who was working in a gay bar in Helsinki (though he identifies as straight obviously queer friendly) he asked him to care for Tom. As a result Wiki has a lot of Tom's ephemera mixed in with his personal collection (he's a big collector). This ephemera has not been recorded or cataloged. So my first project will be to weed Wiki's collection and create aquisition forms so that they are on record with the Foundation and can be lent to future exhibitions. In addition Wiki has both Tom of Finland originals and reproductions. We plan to bring everthing together in order to launch a Tom of Finland Visitor's Center and Museum in Finland. This will probably be seasonal due to the harsh Finland winters-which we plan to spend back here at the Foundation in Los Angeles. I'm working with a professor at San Jose State University (where I am an online student) so my posts will sometimes be brief reports on what I'm doing and how many hours it took. However advise and feedback from all is welcome!