Research Guides: World AIDS Day: Archival Materials at NYU

Highlights from NYU Libraries' Special Collections

Avram Finkelstein Papers
The Avram Finkelstein Papers consist of materials related to the life and work of New York artist and gay rights activist Avram Finkelstein. The bulk of the collection focuses on AIDS-related groups, organizations, individuals, and art collectives responding to political and social movements between the mid-1980s and the late 1990s. A fair amount of material is also drawn from Finkelstein's affiliations with the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), his affinity group Anonymous Queers, and the art collective Gran Fury.
Chloe Faith Dzubilo Papers
Chloe Faith Dzubilo was an artist and AIDS and transgender activist. The Chloe Faith Dzubilo Papers comprise art, photographs, writing, annotated books, various annotated paper materials, journals, correspondence, articles, flyers, invitations, posters, brochures, objects, and audiovisual materials. The papers document Dzubilo's life as an artist, and a transgender woman living with HIV/AIDS while advocating for the rights and representation of people with HIV/AIDS and the transgender community.
Gay Cable Network Archives
Founded in 1982 by Louis P. Maletta, the Gay Cable Network was the premiere chronicler of major events and personalities of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community for nearly two decades. Broadcast on public access television in New York City and other major cities worldwide, GCN covered key LGBT civil rights battles, five presidential conventions, as well as the AIDS pandemic and social protests often marginalized in the mainstream media.
Lesbian and Gay Labor Network (LGLN) Records
The Lesbian and Gay Labor Network (LGLN) was founded in New York City in 1987 to promote lesbian and gay rights in unions and labor solidarity in the gay community. Activities include the Coors Boycott Coalition, publishing Pride at Work, organizing lesbian and gay committees in unions, and resource referral, particularly regarding AIDS in the workplace and domestic partnership benefits. The collection consists mainly of research files collected by Miriam Frank and Desma Holcomb for their book, Pride at Work. Also included are organizational files and newsletters of LGLN and the Lesbian and Gay Teachers Association.
Leslie Cagan Papers
Leslie Cagan was born in New York City in 1947. She graduated from New York University in 1968 with a degree in Art History. As an activist, organizer, and employee, Cagan has been involved in a range of progressive political activities in the United States, and in particular in New York City from the late 1960s to the present. Both paid and unpaid, Cagan's work with movements for social and economic justice documents the formation of progressive political organizations and highlights coalition building activities and strategies.
Miriam Frank Oral Histories on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Activists in the Labor Movement
In preparation for her 2014 book Out in the Union: A Labor History of Queer America, historian Miriam Frank conducted oral history interviews with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer labor activists across the United States from 1994-2009. These 79 interviews comprise this oral history collection and cover such topics as family and class identity, the influence of the institutions of the political left and/or the church, and death. Through these interviews, Frank sought to expose individual situations of struggle and to create a detailed history of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer activism in labor unions.
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Collection of LGBTQ Rights Serials
The Collection of LGBTQ Rights Serials groups 41 titles broadly relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights, published between 1969 and 2001, originally received by the Tamiment Library through subscriptions, donations, and as part of archival collections. The collection consists of incomplete runs of newspapers, newsletters, magazines, and bulletins, with a smaller quantity of one-off reports and catalogs, published by LGBTQ rights organizations, encompassing activist networks, academic institutions, and nonprofits. The serials provide contemporaneous coverage of a wide range of issues of concern to LGBTQ communities between the 1970s and 1990s, broadly addressing sexuality, gender, anti-gay violence and discrimination, health, and cultural portrayals of the LGBTQ community.
WHAM! (Women's Health Action and Mobilization) Records
The Women's Health Action and Mobilization (WHAM!) Records contain organizing records, videos, photographs, and ephemera related to WHAM!'s support of women's health and access to abortion. The collection contains documentation from individual members of the group and records related to WHAM!'s collaboration with other organizations, particularly the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and mainstream women's organizations, including Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Rights Action League, and the National Organization for Women.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt at Bobst Library

About the AIDS Memorial Quilt

Nine panels from the NAMES Project Foundation’s AIDS Memorial Quilt are on display at Bobst Library until December 15 to close out New York University’s yearlong commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The 12x12 foot panels represent a cross-section of people lost to AIDS, including members of the trans community, incarcerated individuals, artists and activists who shaped New York’s downtown arts scene, and an NYU student. Visit the NYU News website for details about the exhibition at Bobst Library.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt was started in 1987 by a small group of strangers who recognized the urgent need to document the lives lost to AIDS and help people understand the devastating impact of the disease. Today, the Quilt serves as a powerful visual reminder of the AIDS pandemic and consists of more than 48,000 individual 3x6 foot memorial pieces sewn together by friends, lovers, and family members. Visit the National AIDS Memorial website to learn more about the Quilt.