Images of Secret Gay Love Lost to Time

​100 Years of Men in Love: The Accidental Collection

Married couple Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell were having a relaxing afternoon browsing a Dallas antique store when they stumbled upon something that would change their life — a 1920s-era photograph of a male couple embracing. That discovery from over two decades ago evolved into a passion for historic photos of male couples posing, hugging, kissing, and caressing in images that could have gotten the subjects arrested or worse. Now in ownership of over 3,000 pictures culled from flea markets, shoe boxes, family archives, estate sales, and old suitcases, Nini and Treadwell turned their collection into a book, LOVING A Photographic History of Men in Love 1850s-1950s, and, more recently, a documentary.

100 Years of Men in Love: The Accidental Collection, directed by David Millbern and airing on Here TV, is both a lovely reminder that queer love is not a 21st century invention (take note, Gov. Ron DeSantis) and a bittersweet history lesson on queer perseverence. Punctuated by quotes from writers Walt Whitman and Henry David Thoreau (both of whom have long been rumored to be gay or bisexual), the film hopes to bring light to love stories lost to time. At great risk to themselves, these man documented their relationships, which will now live on as a beacon for future generations. Wanting to memorialize and preserve a relationship scorned by nearly all aspects of society is “the definition of true love,” Millbern said in a statement. Find out more at here.tv/100yearsofmeninlove and check out more images below, courtesy of Nini and Treadwell.