AIDS History Project

Organizational Histories

UCSF AIDS History Project was started in 1987 to promote the preservation of historically significant resources relating to the beginning of the AIDS Epidemic, focusing on the responses by community-based organizations (CBOs) within San Francisco. Nancy Zinn, Head of Archives and Special Collections at the UCSF Library, was the Principal Investigator for the project until her retirement. She was subsequently replaced by Robin Chandler, who became the Principal Investigator for the project in April 1995. Bill (aka Willie) Walker was the Archivist for the project. In 1991 a National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) grant was received to fund the AIDS History Project Records Survey. More than 50 agencies were surveyed to identify the records that should be permanently preserved. A second two-year NHPRC grant funded an extended survey of collections and development of an acquisition plan. A major part of the project was providing instruction in records management practices to the CBOs. A third NHPRC grant was received in 1993 for another two years for the Records Acquisition and Processing Project (RAPP) phase; this grant lasted until July 1995, later extended to December 1995.

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