Tom of Finland Foundation Collection Preservation

Help ensure our Queer history is never lost, damaged, or censored.

At its inception, Tom of Finland Foundation was established to preserve and promote Tom’s vast catalogue of over 4,000 drawings and paintings. Tom’s work is venerated as part of the Queer canon for its unflinching depictions of Homosexual exuberance: joyful, playful, sexual, and free from shame. His work is Queerness unmarred by bigotry, intolerance, violence, and illness; a Gay utopia. Alongside Tom’s massive oeuvre, the Foundation guards swaths of Queer erotic artwork from titans of the genre including Philip Core, Etienne, Domino, A.Jay, and Bruce Rapp. Portrayals of the Upstairs Lounge Fire and the pain of living with and dying from HIV/AIDS can be found among the works. Tom of Finland Foundation’s collections keep our history alive and more importantly, safe from those who seek to censor and distort it.

JOHN B. HIGGINS Untitled, 2024, Color photograph, 14″ x 11″, Tom of Finland Foundation Permanent Collection, Gift of the Thomas Rogilio Collection

To ensure these priceless collections are protected for future generations, every artwork requires specialized care and preservation. Conservation and archival storage are essential—but they are also costly. This Pride Month, we invite you to support Tom of Finland Foundation’s efforts to enhance our archival storage facilities, helping safeguard these irreplaceable works from loss, deterioration and damage. Your contribution will help preserve an important cultural legacy for years to come.

Currently, the largest challenge facing us is, simply, lack of space. We are looking to upgrade the preservation of the Tom of Finland collection by expanding to more spacious accommodations. Other pieces are stored in a temperature-controlled environment at TOM House which is also bursting with 5,000+ artworks. As the Foundation continues to accept donations from active LGBTQ+ artists as well as from the estates of deceased artists and collectors, we require more space to suitably store the consistent flow of unique and enriching additions to the collection. To protect our holdings, another unit to be housed on Foundation property would run the Foundation anywhere from $15,000 to $20,000.

We know the Foundation is not alone in its financial challenges. Across the United States, nonprofit organizations like ours are struggling to raise funds thanks to an administration hostile to the LGBTQ+ community and restrictions on government grants for organizations that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion for all. We will not let that stop us. These collections are our story. It is our legacy. The lives and work of these fearless, trailblazing artists will not be erased.

Together, we can guarantee the survival of these rare and precious illustrations of Queer life, love, sex, struggle, and triumph.

Published: 27th June 2026

Categorised in: Friends of Tom