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San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) Records
MSS 94-60  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • General
  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Alternate Forms Available
  • Related Collections
  • Acquisition Information
  • System of Arrangement
  • Processing Information
  • Institutional History
  • Scope and Content of Collection

  • Contributing Institution: University of California, San Francisco Archives & Special Collections
    Title: San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) records
    Creator: San Francisco AIDS Foundation
    Identifier/Call Number: MSS 94-60
    Physical Description: 27 cartons, 1 box 34.15
    Date (inclusive): 1982-1995
    Abstract: This collection contains records from the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF), originally the Kaposi's Sarcoma Research and Education Foundation (KSREF), from its founding in 1982 through 1995.
    Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog: http://www.library.ucsf.edu/ .
    Language of Material: Collection materials are in English

    General

    Finding Aid Written By:
    William Walker, Julia Bazar and Josue Hurtado
    Date Completed:
    May 2007

    Access

    Collection is open for research.

    Publication Rights

    Copyright has not been assigned to the UCSF Library and Center for Knowledge Management. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manager of Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the UCSF Library and Center for Knowledge Management as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
    Copyright restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) Records, MSS 94-60, The UCSF Library and Center for Knowledge Management, Archives and Special Collections, University of California, San Francisco.

    Alternate Forms Available

    There are no alternate forms of this collection.

    Related Collections

    AR 92-20 Institute for Health Policy Studies - AIDS Resource Program Records
    MSS 94-59 National Task Force on AIDS Prevention Records
    MSS 95-02 GAPA Community HIV Project (GCHP) Papers
    MSS 95-04 Women's AIDS Network (WAN) Records
    MSS 98-39 Marcus A. Conant Papers
    MSS 98-48 Shanti Project Records
    MSS 98-49 AIDS Community-Based Organization Records Collections
    MSS 2000-31 AIDS History Project Ephemera Collection
    MSS 2000-32 AIDS History Project Audio/Video Collection

    Acquisition Information

    The San Francisco AIDS Foundation Records were donated to UCSF in 1995 as a part of the AIDS History Project.

    System of Arrangement

    Portions of this collection are arranged to the folder level, while others are arranged to the container level.

    Processing Information

    Processed by Bill Walker, Julia Bazar and Josue Hurtado

    Institutional History

    The mission of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) is to hasten the end of the AIDS epidemic and its impact on society. It has served as a major resource center for educating the public in order to prevent the transmission of HIV, helping all individuals make informed choices about AIDS-related concerns, and protecting the human rights of those affected by HIV. It has provided necessary client services for those in San Francisco affected by HIV, and assisted other organizations in achieving related goals.
    The SFAF was organized in April of 1982 as the Kaposi's Sarcoma Research and Education Foundation (KSREF) by a group of community leaders and physicians. Initially it was a volunteer-operated, single telephone, information and referral hotline stationed in a tiny back room at 520 Castro. By the fall of 1982 it had moved into a small suite at 512 Castro and was becoming nationally recognized for its up-to-date information about AIDS. It obtained its first contracts for educational services with the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) and the state of California in late 1982 and early 1983.
    As its reputation grew, an attempt was made to expand into a national organization and the KSREF was reorganized as the AIDS/KS Foundation, Inc (AKF), with Phil Conway as National Director. Other chapters formed in Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Rick Crane, the first AKF Director (initially a volunteer position), continued as Director of the San Francisco chapter. When the national organization faltered, the three chapters split off. The San Francisco chapter, which had moved to 51 10th street in October of 1983, reorganized as the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) early in 1984. Crane left that year and Jim Ferrels was hired. Ferrels left in 1985 and Tim Wolfred replaced him as Executive Director, following another move, to 333 Valencia.
    Wolfred managed SFAF over the next five years as the agency and its programs grew rapidly. In 1987 the Valencia office was overflowing, and administrative offices were moved to 25 Van Ness. A funding crisis in 1989 instigated an extensive and demoralizing cutback in staff and programs. After guiding SFAF through this troubled period, Wolfred stepped down. Pat Christen, who began as an assistant in the education department and later moved up to Director of Public Policy, was chosen as Executive Director to replace Wolfred. In 1990 the rest of the SFAF offices were moved from Valencia to 25 Van Ness Street where the agency continued to occupy several suites. In 1993 executive offices, along with fiscal, personnel, policy, development, and campaigns, moved into additional space on Market Street, and then relocated in 1995 to 10 UN Plaza. By late 1995 the entire agency had moved to that address.
    Client services have included health counseling, support groups, housing, client advocacy and referrals. Special focus services exist or have existed for women, people of color, and non-English speaking people. The first head of Client Services was Steve Pratt, who started in 1983 and left the following year. He was succeeded by Tristano Palermino for the years 1984-1986, followed by Hank Tavera from 1986 through 1989. Tavera was co-chair of the Third World AIDS Advisory Task Force during much of this same period. In 1990 Michael Lee replaced Tavera as Client Services Director. Catherine Maier was coordinator of Women's Services during the later 1980s and early 1990s.
    The AIDS Food Bank, organized in 1983 as a separate project, was administered by Cary Norsworthy. In 1984 Norsworthy also organized a Thanksgiving Dinner for PWAs at the Valencia Rose, a gay-owned cabaret. This became an annual event, with SFAF producing it under Norsworthy's guidance for several years. The Food Bank (Client Services) continued to serve a needy population for several years. In the restructuring of 1989, SFAF administration decided to eliminate the Food Bank as an SFAF unit. In 1990 it began to operate as an interim joint venture of the AIDS Foundation and Project Open Hand. Since July of 1991 it has been administered by Project Open Hand, which retains records from 1983 on.
    The Education department was initially headed by Mitch Bart, who moved into another position and was replaced by Lyn Paleo. Paleo headed the department for the next several years, with Chuck Frutchey as a long-time staff member. Early on, Paleo ran the Northern California Program (often referred to as NorCal), traveling throughout the region to give workshops and encourage the development of AIDS services at the local level. As more agencies opened, the need for the Northern California outreach diminished, and this project ended in 1987. Paleo left SFAF about 1988, and Frutchey was named Director of Education, a position he retained until his retirement in 1994. Among all his other duties, Frutchey was the unofficial historian of the Foundation. He repeatedly rescued and protected records from throughout SFAF, and it is because of Frutchey that many of the records in this collection survived.
    Three main strategies have been used to promote education by SFAF. The AIDS Hotline was a de facto operation from the day the telephone was connected in the Castro office in 1983. Over time its services have been used by hundreds of thousands of callers, a remarkable feat for a completely volunteer-staffed service. Various proposals have been made over time to organize non-English language hotline services. Of these, only a Filipino Hotline was ever developed.
    Another strategy employed by the Education Department was community outreach through forums, workshops, and other events. The final strategy employed individual educational campaigns which either highlighted a particular message, or targeted a specific group, or both. One of the tactics for developing campaigns, especially those targeting specific groups, was the use of focus groups composed of members of the targeted groups. The focus groups serve as temporary advisory bodies which review proposed campaign images and text. Products have included posters, pamphlets, videotapes, a coloring book, and other materials. Though these materials were originally distributed and/or sold directly by SFAF, in the early 1990s a switch was made, giving exclusive distribution rights to a group called Impact AIDS. The Education Department has also sponsored two newsletters, BETA (a technical journal focusing on AIDS treatments), and Positive News (a general educational newsletter).
    The Media Services office has operated since the early days as well. A Public Policy office was added during the mid-1980s. Media Services eventually was subsumed under Public Policy. This office is the advocacy arm of SFAF, which performs research and development for the local, state, and federal government and private sectors, lobbies legislative bodies, holds occasional forums, issues press releases, and responds to media requests.

    Scope and Content of Collection

    This collection contains materials representing the work and history of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) from its founding in 1982, as the Karposi Sarcoma Research and Education Foundation, through 1995. Materials in the collection document most of the Foundation's major departments and activities, and include board of directors' minutes, budgets, contracts, focus groups, events, correspondence, grant proposals, reports, flyers, clippings, and photographs. This collection also includes a small amount of ephemera, including a Rubber Men cape.
    Series 1 consists of administrative records, including a complete set of the SFAF Board of Directors' minutes (May of 1983 - December of 1994). No earlier minutes are known to exist. This series also includes records of the executive directors, including general administrative files (phone logs, resumes of the initial staff, office plans, staff meeting minutes, management meeting minutes and minutes of the Scientific Advisory Committee) and an integrated set of subject files from 1987-1992.
    Series 2 consists of materials from the Personnel, Volunteer Services, Media Services, Development, Public Policy, Planning, Financial Services, and Contracts departments or offices. Included within this series are press releases from 1983-1992, records of several staff-initiated support groups, staff-related social events, notices of deaths and memorial services, and staff-created flyers.
    Although this collection does not hold any client files, the administration of Client Services is well documented, particularly during the Palermino and Tavera administrations. Within Tavera's records, and also among Pat Christen's subject files, there are a number of incident reports pertaining to the behavior of individual clients; these have been purged of names, addresses, and other identifying notations while preserving the nature and response to the particular incidents. Since very few of Michael Lee's files survived his 1994 departure, almost nothing from Client Services in the 1990s is documented. Project Open Hand, which took over the Food Bank in 1991, retains records from 1983 on.
    The Education department is the best documented arm of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. This is undoubtedly due to Chuck Frutchey's vigilance. The administrative records of the Education Department include a notable amount of correspondence, memos, and meeting minutes of this department. Another very important component involves bi-weekly and monthly listings of AIDS-related events, spanning most of the years from 1983 though 1988. Other subseries include Campaign Administration, Campaign Focus Groups, Individual Campaigns, Educational Events, and records of the AIDS Hotline.
    The four final series include Photographs, Newsletters, Monographs, and a very small Ephemera series. Photographs have been identified on the back when possible. A number of slides, mostly related to the Rubber Men campaign, are also included. The ephemera series also consists of Rubber Men materials (a mask and cape).
    Newsletters are arranged by department or function. Titles include Onward, Macropages, Volunteers/Voluntarios/ Boluntaryo Mga, Hot Lines, HOTline FLASHES, HotLine Notes, Positive News, Behind the Scenes and, HIV Policy Watch. The Monographs series, is composed of reports, guides, surveys, lists, and papers produced by SFAF departments and staff. The Ephemera series contains two items related to the Rubber Men campaign. All other ephemera items have been moved to the AIDS History Project Ephemera Collection (MSS 2000-31).
    This collection has been processed in several stages. Therefore, all series and subseries are not processed at exactly the same level. For the sections that were not processed to the full folder level, the number of folders are listed for general categories/subseries but exact order of the folders have not been confirmed. The Collection is divided into 8 Series with a number of subseries. They are:
    1. Series 1: Administration
    2. Series 2: Departments and Offices
    3. Series 3: Programs and Client Services Department
    4. Series 4: Education Department
    5. Series 5: Photographs
    6. Series 6: Newsletters
    7. Series 7: Monographs
    8. Series 8: Ephemera

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    AIDS (Disease)--Social Aspects--United States
    AIDS (Disease)--California--San Francisco
    AIDS (Disease)--Government Policy--United States
    AIDS (Disease) in women--United States
    AIDS (Disease)--Patients--Services for
    AIDS (Disease)--Political aspects
    AIDS (Disease)--Prevention
    AIDS activists--United States
    Community Foundations
    Minorities--Health and hygiene--United States
    San Francisco AIDS Foundation