In the 1980’s and 90’s, the subject of much national social activism was to inform the public of current AIDS healthcare services as well as implement changes to improve stigma around AIDS. One organization, known as ACT UP/LA (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power/Los Angeles), created national-level changes in FDA medication approval methods and established changes for AIDS treatment in many prisons. An archive of ACT UP/LA history between 1987-1997 has been studied as an important source of information for AIDS activists as well as a method to study the effects of grassroots organizations.
There are a number of interesting narratives we could pull for this archive. “The records include minutes, financial records, photographs, press releases, membership materials, newsletters, clippings, fliers, and subject files.” We might be able to tell a story of everywhere that activists traveled, everywhere that protests occurred. I noticed while looking through the records that the organization protested in many places outside of the LA area, including everywhere from Sacramento to Austin, TX to Washington DC. This could make a really awesome looking infographic or data visualization to help us better understanding just how far-reaching the organization was. From these records, we would also be able to track the rise and fall of new membership or the frequency of appearance in the press. These would all be different methods to study the effectiveness of ACT UP/LA’s activism efforts.
A missing narrative that I think could be really important to this organization would be the story of results. I’m curious about the exact changes that ACT UP/LA was targetting, as well as whether or not each one succeeded. What laws are now different because of their efforts? What hospitals now have improved AIDS treatment because of ACT UP/LA? Where in LA might I go that has been directly impacted by this organization? I would love to understand one step further in their social activism and see the direct results or list of things affected by their protests. This would not only help us understand ACT UP/LA better, but it would be a great way to study the effectiveness of grassroots protesting as well. A way to tell this narrative might be to track the direct policies/causes protesters were targetting in another archive section. Once a policy is officially changed or substantial progress has been made, archivists would follow up on records for that particular policy to document modifications.
Although potentially missing a few narratives, the ACT UP/LA archive tells many more stories that most of the public might never be aware of. I never knew that archives of information like this even existed, and I am now excited to explore the archival narratives of many new ideas.