New York: Historical Society Exhibition to Explore the Early Days of AIDS

This summer, the New York Historical Society will mount an exhibition titled "AIDS in New York: The First Five Years," which will focus on the early years of AIDS in New York City. Comprised of diaries, ephemera such as clinician's notes and photographs, and both audio and video clips, the exhibition will examine the impact of the disease from the first days of rumors of a "gay plague" in 1981 through 1986. Curator Jean S. Ashton explains that for many today these early years are a nearly forgotten historical period, although the advent of the disease "changed paradigms in medicine, society, politics, and culture in ways that are still being felt." The exhibition will be shown June 7 through September 15, and will precede a show to be mounted at the New York Public Library titled "Why We Fight: AIDS Activism and American Culture," which is scheduled for October 4, 2013 through April 6, 2014. For further information on the New York Historical Society exhibition, visit www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/future-exhibitions.

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