I am delighted to announce the Under the Counter archive is finally accessible at the Bishopsgate Institute in London. One of the challenges I encountered while researching Under the Counter was the lack of archives containing rollers, especially in Britain. Only the Kinsey Institute in Indiana, USA, appears to have a significant holding. All the rollers that were either donated or acquired during my research are now housed at Bishopsgate for others to access. The archive contains 450 titles, including 245 physical copies which are currently being digitised. Among these are 70 above-the-counter softcore films, 138 glamour films, seven European hardcore films and an assortment of other related ephemera that would have been available in the backrooms of Soho bookshops, such as hand-illustrated erotic stories. The Under the Counter collection is a living archive and welcomes donations from others. If you have rollers you’d like to donate please do get in touch with me via the website’s contact form.
September 16, 2024