Reverend Ilsley Boone a baptist pastor was a pioneer of the nudist movement in the United States. Born in 1897 in Brooklyn New YorkBoone described to a clergy colleague having a conversion of sorts to nudism after visiting a nudist camp in Europe. [ref]The Story of Sunshine Park [/ref]

Biography

In 1936 Rev. Ilsley Boone, considered the “czar”of the nudist movement in the USA,[ref]A brief history of nudism in America[/ref] fought success- fully to win official recognition for the First Amendment rights of nudist publications. Rev. Ilsley (‘Uncle Danny’) Boone was among the founders of the International Nudit League. The organization as later renamed the American Sunbathing and then the Association  the American Association for Nude Recreation. He served as president for 21 years the organization. In 1935 he bought Sunshine Park near Mays Landing, NJ and made it the headquarters of the ASA. Years later after an internal organization struggle, several attempts and a court case Boone was ousted as the head of the ASA.

Nudist publications

Boone published several magazines including ing the first American nudist publication The Nudist. Boone was arrested by the FBI  and indicted by a federal grand jury in the 1940s for using the U.S. postal service  to  Sunshine & Health magazine to subscribers. He fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. [ref]The Story of Sunshine Park [/ref] On Jan. 13, 1958, America’s highest court issued a simply worded ruling, declaring Boone’s publication of nude photos was not obscene.

“This has been, and will long remain the crowning adventure of my life,” Boone wrote in his magazine celebrating the decision.

In 1955, Boone sued Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield for seizing Sunshine and Health magazines as obscene. Boone lost at trial, and on appeal, but in 1958 the Supreme Court sided with him in a landmark ruling finding nudity not obscene in the US. [ref]Buff Library[/ref]

Later years

[caption id="attachment_117193" align="alignright" width="150"] Photo James Schmidt
https://twitter.com/JamesESchmidt3[/caption] In 1963 Boone's publishing company went out of business leaving him broke. Boone died in 1968 at a time when participation in nudism in America was starting to ebb. At the time of his death he lived in a home provided by Edith Church a member of the National Nudist Council