This photo, one of many images of military men in the collection, was marked 1951 with the note “Davis & J.C.”Ĭourtesy of the Nini-Treadwell Collection © Loving by 5 Continents Editions Featuring around 300 photos spanning more than a century, the volume is available through Italian publisher 5 Continents Editions. The result of their trips to flea markets, shops, estate sales and family archives across Europe, Canada and the United States is a tome titled Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love 1850s to 1950s. In the decades that followed this initial discovery, the pair came across more than 2,800 photos of men in love-at first accidentally and later on purpose. We were intrigued that a photo like this could have survived into the century. “Taking such a photo, during a time when they would have been less understood than they would be today, was not without risk. “The open expression of the love that they shared also revealed a moment of determination,” Nini and Treadwell tell the Post. When Texas couple Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell stumbled onto a 1920s-era photograph in a Dallas antiques shop some 20 years ago, they were startled to see a relationship that looked much like theirs: two men, embracing and clearly in love.Īs Dee Swann writes for the Washington Post, the image spoke to the couple about the history of love between men.
