Ilsley Boone

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The Rev. Ilsley Boone "Uncle Danny" (unk.-1968)^[1] was a charismatic speaker and powerful organizer and is the father of the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR), then called the American Sunbathing Association (ASA).

Little is known of Boone's early life. During the 1920s, Boone was the pastor of the Church of the Ponds (Dutch Reformed)^[2] (sometimes misquoted as being Baptist) in Oakland, New Jersey. Kurt Barthel had formed the American League for Physical Culture (APLC), America's first nudist orginzation in 1930. A year and a half later, Boone became the ALPC’s Executive Secretary. Barthel soon asked him to take his place as president of the organization.

In 1933, Mr. Boone began producing the first nudist magazine in the U.S., The Nudist, and later, Sunshine & Health under the Sunshine Publishing Company. Even with the genitals airbrushed out of the photos the U.S. Postal Service decided the materials were obscene and couldn't be distributed through the U.S. mail. This fight was also taken all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court where the Rev. Boone ultimately won the right to distribute nudist materials through the mail. This victory paved the way for not only legitimate nudist magazines and materials but also some of the more seedy versions and, eventually, Hugh Hefner's Playboy Empire.

By August 1951, Boone had been voted out as president of the ASA. A dozen years later, his Sunshine Publishing Company was out of business as well. A member of the National Nudist Council, allowed him to reside at a home in Ohio until his death in 1968.