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Description
This collection documents Dr. Robert Bolan's participation, as a community doctor and as President of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF), in the identification and prevention of AIDS and HIV. Bolan was also active in the Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights (BAPHR), and the National Coalition of Gay Sexually Transmitted Disease Services (NCGSTD), and consulted with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Risk reduction and safe(r) sex guidelines were two areas of special focus for Bolan. Included in this collection are minutes, correspondence, newsletters and various other items connected to these organizations, as well as drafts of articles written/talks given by Dr. Bolan and materials on AIDS and Educational methods collected by Dr. Bolan.
Background
Robert K. Bolan was born in Detroit, Michigan and grew up in the greater Detroit area. He graduated from the University of Detroit in 1964 and then went on to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, for medical school. He received his M.D. in 1968. He was briefly married during medical school (2.5 years) and has a son. He started his residency in Madison, Wisconsin (1972/1973) [where he met his first lover and came out to himself]. There was an active gay network in Madison. After a short break from medicine he completed his residency (1975/1976) in Milwaukee. While in Milwaukee he became aware of the "STD problem with gay men" and began volunteering at a gay VD clinic. This was the beginning of the gay medical movement and he enjoyed working with and serving his peers. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) had become concerned about the high and growing rates of Syphilis and Hepatitis B within the gay male community and, in a rare move, partnered with these community clinics. This started Bolan's association with the CDC. Bolan joined the National Coalition of Gay Sexually Transmitted Disease Services (NCGSTD) after being introduced to the group by its chairperson Mark Behar. The NCGSTD issued the first "safe sex" pamphlet, Guidelines and Recommendations for Healthy Gay Sexual Activity. Started in 1979, it was published in 1981, just as physicians were becoming aware of the illnesses that would later be called AIDS.
Extent
2 cartons, 4 boxes 3.7
Restrictions
Copyright has not been assigned to the Library & Center for Knowledge Management. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Archives & Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Library & 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.
Availability
Collection open for research.