ONE Archives at the USC Libraries has received a grant from the California State Library to preserve and expand access to significant archival collections documenting the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the activists, organizations, healthcare providers, and communities that responded to the crisis in Southern California.
The project, “Preserving the Legacies of HIV/AIDS Service Organizations and Activists at ONE Archives,” will support the processing of eight archival collections, as well as the digitization and exhibition of a selection of materials. Among the collections to be processed are the records of AIDS Service Center and Clean Needles Now, the papers of physician and activist Dr. Mark Katz, and photographs by Chuck Stallard documenting AIDS activism, including street demonstrations by ACT UP and other organizations.
Together, these collections preserve multiple dimensions of the history of HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ activism in Southern California. They document grassroots organizing and direct action, the provision of social and medical services, harm-reduction efforts, and the experiences of people who mobilized in response to both a devastating epidemic and the political and social conditions surrounding it.
Processing these collections is an important step toward ensuring that the history of HIV/AIDS is not understood solely through the epidemic’s devastating losses, but also through the extraordinary networks of care, activism, creativity, and collective action that emerged in response. Making these materials accessible will create new opportunities for researchers, students, educators, filmmakers, artists, and community members to examine that history and its continuing relevance to conversations about public health, LGBTQ+ civil rights, and social activism.
The project runs through December 2027, after which the newly processed collections and finding aids will remain available for research at ONE Archives.