ACT UP Sydney banner and printed ephemera

Cataloguing in progress
MLMSS 12175

fonds

1990-1994

Objects, Textual Records, Ephemera, Clippings

9680612

1 banner - cotton - 236 x 86 cm
0.16 metres of textual material (1 box)

ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) is an international grassroots political group dedicated to ending the AIDS pandemic. It was formed on 12 March 1987 at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in New York City, New York, United States. Co-founder Larry Kramer, who had co-founded the Gay Men's Health Crisis in 1982, had been asked to speak and highlighted the need for action to fight AIDS. He asked whether a new organisation should be founded for political action, and, two days later, approximately 300 people gathered to establish ACT UP.

The organisation spoke out against the negligence and complacency of government and medical establishments, beginning in the 1980s in New York City and later expanding with branches in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. They demonstrated to demand a coordinated national policy to fight the disease, allow greater access and lower prices for experimental AIDS drugs, including AZT (zidovudine), and protest the spread of misinformation about the transmission and prognosis of the disease for men and women. They also became conflated with the Silence=Death Project, founded in 1987 in New York City.

References:
ACT UP. Accessed 18 June 2024. https://actupny.com/

Wikipedia. "ACT UP". Accessed 18 June 2024.

Material collected by Lois Johnson. Banner was exhibited in Pride (R)evolution, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, February to July 2023

Collection of and about the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power organisation in Sydney, known as ACT UP Sydney, and its activism to protest the immediacy of issues faced by people living with HIV/AIDS and the lacking government response. Includes promotion of a national day of action billed as "D-day" (D for death, drugs, delays) held promotionally in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

Cataloguing in progress - BANNER
1 banner embroidered with the words “Brian Howe is responsible for murdering these people this year” and the names of those who had died of HIV/AIDS in Australia between 1 January and 5 June 1991 sewn at the bottom. Brian Howe was the Federal Minister for Health from 4 April 1990 to 24 March 1993.

MLMSS 12175 - PRINTED EPHEMERA
24 flyers, 8 broadsides, 20 stickers and sticker sheets, 1 business card promoting ACT UP; the D-day action; speaking out against the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board, Ferrari Publications, Brian Howe and Fred Hollows.

15 documents relating to the National Conferences on AIDS and other media releases including the history of ACT UP in Australia; open letters; copy of article "Act Up in Anger" from Rolling Stone magazine, 8 March 1990; issue of Talkabout newsletter for May/June 1990; "a letter for mr howe" for D-day; speech by Bruce Brown for 5th National Conference on AIDS, Sydney, 25 November 1992; various flyers on the necessity for ACT UP to commit "insidious acts" to gain national attention around the AIDS crisis. Dated 8 March 1990 to 25 November 1992

12 documents relating to the "Canberra Manifesto"; the 4th National AIDS Conference, Canberra, 8-11 August 1990, including preliminary strategies; faxes from Lois Johnson to Bruce Brown; media kit; "Treatments and Data" print out; copies of speeches by Bruce Brown; Robert Ariss; Brian Howe MP. Dated 5 July to 11 August 1990

4 newspaper clippings for 7 June 1991 from various newspapers including the Sydney Morning Herald and the Telegraph. June issue of ACT UP Reports. Issue of the Sydney Star Observer for 14 June 1991

5 letters of correspondence between ACT UP and members of Parliament including Minister Brian Howe from Lois Johnson, June and August 1991; ACT UP Manchester regarding the International ACT UP Graphics Exhibition, dated 4 March 1994

Collection arranged by document type and approximate chronological order by date.

Access via appointment - For banner

Copyright restrictions may apply:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder

Title devised by cataloguer.