LibGuides: AIDS Crisis in Minnesota: Primary Sources: Archives & Records

Manuscripts

Mark O’Leary Papers
Visually interesting daily events sheets and drawing ideas kept by artist Mark O’Leary as memory aids to compensate for his short-term memory loss following an AIDS-related seizure in 1992.
MNHS call number: See finding aid in the library (P2592)

Brian J. Coyle Papers
Personal, political, and official papers documenting the life and career of a gay activist and Minneapolis (Minn.) city council member. Coyle was infected with HIV and his struggle with the disease and decision to publicly disclose his status are also documented (1989-1991).
MNHS call number: Digital Finding Aid

The Minnesota Names Quilt Project Report
Pictures of each panel for the Minnesota AIDS quilt along with biographical information on the people for whom the panels were made. Also included are some miscellaneous items: a small poster, news article, postcards of the AIDS quilt in Washington, DC., and a sticker from the displaying of the quilt in Washington, D.C.
MNHS call number: See finding aid in the library (P2685)

Oral History

Not Waiting for a Cure Oral History Project
Project documents Minnesota's response to AIDS from personal and sociopolitical perspectives. This collection includes nineteen narratives documenting the memory of those working in and lost to the epidemic. The narrators discuss the reasons for their AIDS actions, the effect the epidemic has had on their faith, their commitments to other issues and their image of the United States. Interviews were conducted in 1994 and 1995, when the epidemic was entering its second decade.
MNHS call number: Transcripts and Digital Audio

Ephemera

Heart Strings: The National Tour: Evenings of Hope for the Healing of AIDS
New York: Design Industries Foundation for AIDS, 1989.
MNHS call number: RA644.A25 H42 1989

Pamphlets Relating to AIDS Prevention and Control in Minnesota
MNHS call number: Pamphlet Collection RA643.8

Instructional Materials & Position Statements

La Verdad no duele. The Truth Does Not Hurt. Videotape.

Produced by: Hispanic Health Network and Twin Cities Public Television. Saint Paul, Minn.: 1995.

Program uses several realistic scenarios to explore the many myths and misconceptions about HIV and AIDS. The setting is a Mexican girl’s 15th birthday celebration where many of the partygoers are gossiping about Jose, who is dying of AIDS.

MNHS call number: Use Copy 772

Managing AIDS in Your WorkPlace: A Workbook for Nonprofit Organizations.
Minneapolis, MN : Minnesota AIDS Project : Workplace Consulting Service, 1988.

MNHS call number: RA644.A25 M36 1988

Stopping AIDS: An Individual Responsibility.
Minneapolis, Minn: Citizens League, 1988.
MNHS call number: RA644.A25 C57 1988

Position Statement on Prevention and Treatment of AIDS, by the Minnesota Public Health Association.
February 1988.
MNHS call number: RA643.84 .M6 M576 1988

AIDS: A War We Can Win, by David Pence.
Published Text of Speech Delivered in Grand Rapids, Michigan on November 4, 1987.
MNHS call number: RA644.A25 P46 1988

Government Records

Minnesota. Division of Disease Prevention and Control. AIDS Health Education and Risk Reduction Program Files.
Records documenting the Health Department’s early efforts to implement a statewide program in AIDS health education and risk reduction. Included are reports on a State-based AIDS Project for Community Health Education and Risk Reduction undertaken in cooperation with the U.S. Health and Human Services Department (1986-1988) and workshop materials (1986) and cooperative agreements (1987-1988) documenting joint work with the Centers for Disease Control.
MNHS call number: Digital Finding Aid

Published Records and Reports. Minnesota Department of Health.
Reports, newsletters, and miscellaneous print and near-print items of or about the department. Nearly two boxes of material containing reports on the state of HIV/AIDS in Minnesota and documents on public health policy and prevention initiatives in the state.
MNHS call number: Digital Finding Aid

Legislative Commission on Public Education
Minutes (1988-1989), meeting files (1988-1989), and subject files (1983-1990) of this legislative commission. The subject files cover topics including AIDS.
MNHS call number: Digital Finding Aid

Governor Carlson Subject Files (1989 - 1998)
Correspondence, reports, legislation, print and near-print materials, clippings, photographs, and other materials covering a wide variety of topics relating to public policy issues, including the AIDS crisis.
MNHS call number: Digital Finding Aid

Creative Works

North Enough: AIDS and Other Clear-Cuts, by Janice Zita Grover.
Saint Paul, MN.: Graywolf Press, 1997.

Burnt out after years of being an AIDS worker in San Francisco, Grover moves to northern Minnesota where she writes this memoir comparing her medical work with the devastated landscape of clear-cut forests in Minnesota.

MNHS call number: RA644.A25 G764 1997

Beloved Warrior: Hemophilia and Other Battles, by Virginia Nyman Arver.
Saint Paul, MN: 1997.

Novel telling the story of the author’s son David’s life with hemophilia, including contracting and eventually dying from AIDS.

MNHS call number: RC642 .A79 1997

Save Everything: A Journal of Creative Writing by People with AIDS and Caregivers.
Minneapolis, MN.: PWA Journal Workshop, 1988.

MNHS call number: PS509.A43 S3 1988

We Are All Living with AIDS: A Rural Experience.
Duluth, MN: Poetry Harbor, 1992.

MNHS call number: PS595.A36 W4 1992

Corey’s Story, by Minnesota AIDS Project.
Minneapolis, MN.: Minnesota AIDS Project, 1987.

Comic book story focused on the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS.

MNHS call number: RA643.8 .C67 1987

Primary Sources