Silicon Valley AIDS Leadership Center Records
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
San José State University
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0028
Phone: (408) 808-2062
Fax: (408) 808-2063
Email: special.collections@sjsu.edu
URL: http://www.sjlibrary.org/research/special/special_coll/
Title: Silicon Valley AIDS Leadership Center Records
Identifier/Call Number: MSS.2011.10.10
Contributing Institution:
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
6.0 linear feet(approx)
7 boxes, 1 flat file drawer and 1 framed poster.
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1990-1996
Date (inclusive): 1989-2011
Abstract: The Silicon Valley AIDS Leadership Center (SVALC) Records (1989-2011) consist of administrative records, audiotapes, ephemera,
financial records, photographs, press clippings, and videotapes. The SVALC, which operated as a nonprofit agency from 1989
to 2011, raised money to benefit bay area AIDS resource centers through an annual "10k Walk for AIDS" event and other fundraisers.
As a result of the economic recession and external difficulties securing corporate sponsors, The organization disbanded in
early 2011.
Access
Access to financial and youth volunteer records in Series I is restricted and may only be obtained with the explicit permission
of the Director of Special Collections at San Jose State University.
Publication Rights
Copyright has been assigned to the San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission
to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the SJSU Special Collections & Archives 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 reproductions of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Preferred Citation
Silicon Valley AIDS Leadership Center Records, MSS-2011-10-10, San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives.
Processing History
Processed by: Mary Alexander. Reviewed by: Danelle Moon. Date completed: 2011. Archist Toolkit generated EAD. Date encoded:
2011
Scope and Content of Collection
The Silicon Valley AIDS Leadership Center (SVALC) Records (1989-2011) consist of administrative records, audiotapes, ephemera,
financial records, photographs, press clippings, and videotapes. The SVALC, which operated as a nonprofit agency from 1989
to 2011, raised money to benefit bay area AIDS resource centers through an annual "10k Walk for AIDS" event and other fundraisers.
As a result of the economic recession and external difficulties securing corporate sponsors, The organization disbanded in
early 2011.
Organizational History
The Silicon Valley AIDS Leadership Center (SVALC) was founded in 1989 as a beneficial agency to support Bay Area AIDS and
HIV-positive patients. SVALC was widely known for organizing the
Walk for AIDS and
Unmask the Mysteries fundraisers, which raised funds to benefit AIDS resource centers in the region. Major corporate sponsors included San Jose
software company Xilinx. For tax exemption purposes, SVALC formed a separate organization called the Santa Clara County AIDS
Coalition, later renamed AIDS Coalition Silicon Valley (ACSV), in 1999 to organize the
Walk for AIDS and
Unmask the Mysteries events.
The
Walk for AIDS event took place in downtown San Jose from 1989 to 2009. Sponsored participants walked a trail loop in Guadalupe Park that
began and ended at Discovery Meadow. The event attracted a diverse range of participants and volunteers from various age groups
and ethnic communities. At the peak of the
Walk's success in the 1990s, singer and activist Joan Baez made appearances at Walk events. She was promoted by her cousin Peter
Baez, a local activist. A small event called the
Warm up Walk for AIDS was also held at amusement park Paramount's Great America in Santa Clara. The AIDS Resources, Information and Services (ARIS)
organization, the Bill Wilson Centre for Living with Dying, and other beneficiaries of the
Walk fundraising reached over 30,000 people annually with AIDS education and information.
ACSV also organized a masquerade gala known as
Unmask the Mysteries, which ran annually from 2005 to 2008. One of the fundraising highlights was a silent auction for donors to purchase carnival
masks that had been decorated by celebrities and local artists.
Unmask the Mysteries was held at the Triton Museum in Santa Clara until 2007, and in 2008 it moved to the Rotary Summit Center in downtown San
Jose.
SVALC fell on hard times in the 2000s. Several sponsors, including ARIS, withdrew their support when director James P. Reber
was accused of discriminating against participating nonprofits and distributing funds unequally. He was eventually replaced
by Pat Duffy, who led the Center from 1999 to 2009. Unable to afford another year of
Unmask the Mysteries, the ACSV attempted one more fundraiser,
Taste of Silicon Valley in 2010. While successful, it did not generate enough money for the organization to continue, moreover, after losing corporate
sponsorship in the wake of the recession, the organization could no longer afford to stay open and disbanded in 2011.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Billy DeFrank Community Center
Mark Bonine, President of the Board of Directors, ARIS
Porsche, Mark
Sahl, Ted
AIDS (Disease) -- California -- Santa Clara County.
AIDS activists
Bay Area Nonprofit Organization
Fundraising
Walk-a-Thons
Series I: Administrative Records
1997-2004
Physical Description:
1 Box
Access
Due to the personal nature of these records, permission to access these records is required.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by date.
Scope and Content of Collection
This series contains the AIDS Coalition Silicon Valley's bank statements from 1997-2002, along with tax returns of the Silicon
Valley AIDS Leadership Center from 1999-2002. These bank statements and tax returns contain records of donations, operations
expenditures, and funds paid to benefitting agencies. The binder containing youth volunteer agreements for the 2004
Walk for AIDS fundraiser documents a diversity of youths engaged with AIDS-related fundraising, as the volunteers helped to staff the
Walk events. Due to the personal nature of these records, permission to access these records is required.
Box 1, Folders 1-10: ACSV financial statement folders
1998-2002
Box 1, Folder 11: Records on CD
1995-2005
Box 1, Item 1: Walk for AIDS statement folder
1998
Box 1, Item 2: SVALC income tax returns
1999-2002
Box 1, Item 3: Bank of America statement binder
1997-1998
Box 1, Item 4: Youth waivers and volunteer agreements
2004
Series II: Advertising and Press
Physical Description:
1 Box
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by date.
Scope and Content
This series contains newspaper clippings from Bay Area magazines and newspapers including the
Metro, the
Wave, the
San Jose Mercury News,
Out Now, and others. The press clippings have been photocopied from originals for the purpose of preservation and consist of editorials,
articles, event announcements and advertisements related to the Silicon Valley AIDS Leadership Center. This series contains
a compact disc featuring radio announcements, radio commercials and radio broadcast coverage of the
Walk for AIDS fundraisers from 1993 and 1996. A video clip with news coverage of the 2003
Walk event from a local television news station is also included on the disc.
Box 2, Folder 1: Press Clippings
1993-1999
Box 2, Folder 2: Press Clippings
2000-2006
Box 2, Folder 3: Radio and Television Media on CD
1993-2003
Series III: Fundraising Ephemera
Physical Description:
1 Box
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by event and year.
Scope and Content of Collection
The contents in this series document the fundraisers that were organized by the Silicon Valley AIDS Leadership Center from
1989 to 1998 and by the AIDS Coalition of Silicon Valley from 1999 to 2010. This series contains the corresponding year’s
flyers, posters, pamphlets, solicitation letters, team guides and other associated ephemera for the annual
Walk for AIDS fundraising event, which successfully ran for 20 years and raised money to benefit AIDS resource centers in the Bay Area. This series
also includes posters, invitations and other material for the
Unmask the Mysteries gala, a donors-only charity event that the AIDS Coalition of Silicon Valley held annually from 2005 to 2010.
Box 3, Folders 1-20:
Walk for AIDS
1990-2009
Box 3, Folder 21:
Unmask the Mysteries
2005-2008
Flat File Drawer 11-2:
Walk for AIDS Posters
1991-2008
Series IV:
Walk for AIDS Photographs and Videos
1990-2009
Physical Description:
4 boxes
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by date.
Scope and Content of Collection
This series consists of photographs, slides and videotapes. Photographs show event organizers, corporate sponsors, spectators
and walkers at Discovery Meadow and along the path in Guadalupe River Park. Most of the photographs are 4x6 prints, with some
variance in size. Several CD-R discs contain collections of photographs that document the Walk from the mid 1990s to mid 2000s.
This series also contains six VHS tapes with video footage of the Walk for AIDS events from 1994 and 1995.
Box 4: Photo albums
1990-2010
Box 5: Photographs and Photos on CD
1990-2010
Box 6: Photographs and Slides
1990-2010
Box 7: Photographs and VHS Tapes
1990s
