Materials relating to the AIDS epidemic, with special emphasis on Los Angeles County. The collection includes records of the various Los Angeles City and County government departments, agencies, and task forces involved in the fight against AIDS, in particular the Los Angeles County AIDS Programs office. The majority of the records relates to HIV/AIDS counseling and testing; community education; the Long Beach Early Intervention Network (EIN) Project; funding through the Centers for Disease Control and under the Ryan White CARE Act of 1990; projects undertaken by private agencies under contract to Los Angeles County; and the work of various commissions and task forces. Additional records of the California State Office of AIDS and the Centers for Disease Control and its subsidiary institutes document the response of the state and Federal governments. The collection also contains materials created by Los Angeles County, California, and national organizations and institutions involved in AIDS research, education, awareness, and community support; a wide variety of materials created by or about persons affected by AIDS; geographic files containing information on AIDS elsewhere in the United States and the world; subject files; a substantial number of English- and Spanish-language AIDS-related newsletters; graphic materials including photographs and posters; ephemera and memorabilia; and a large number of newspaper clippings.

The AIDS History Project Collection was formed in the Fall of 1985 by Jim Kepner, as part of his International Gay and Lesbian Archives (IGLA), to document the history of the AIDS epidemic, in particular in Southern California. It consisted of organizational and subject files. Kepner formed and augmented the collection by removing AIDS-related materials from organizational and personal papers in the IGLA collections. The earliest project coordinator was Olaf Odegaard, succeeded in turn by David Grossman and Jack Carrel, who later worked for the Los Angeles Free Clinic and the Los Angeles County Sexually Transmitted Disease Program. The size of the collection was greatly increased in 2001/2002 by the acquisition of the Southern California AIDS Social Policy Archive, which had been formed at the University of Southern California in 1995 to preserve and make accessible pertinent private papers of David Johnson, the first Los Angeles City AIDS Coordinator, Dr. Michael Gottlieb, and Dr. Joel Weisman, materials from local AIDS activist groups, and papers of the Los Angeles City Attorney AIDS/HIV Discrimination Unit.

164 boxes + 7 oversize boxes + 1 shoebox (210.4 linear feet).

Researchers wishing to publish materials must obtain permission in writing from ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives as the physical owner. Researchers must also obtain clearance from the holder(s) of any copyrights in the materials. Note that ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives can grant copyright clearance only for those materials for which we hold the copyright. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain copyright clearance for all other materials directly from the copyright holder(s).

The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.