David Bell Collection

Collection

Identifier: 1991-04

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Materials include 1988 editions of the San Francisco-based AIDS Weekly Reader, HIV/AIDS education and awareness program information, publications from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) National AIDS Clearinghouse and other reports.

Dates

1988 - 1992

Creator

Bell, David (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

No donor restriction. Standard restrictions apply (see G/H “Confidentiality Agreement” for archives use).

Biographical / Historical

Born in 1956, David Brian Bell originally worked in the music business in Chicago and co-founded the house label Persona Records. After he was diagnosed with AIDS in the mid-1980s, he became active in HIV/AIDS activism in Chicago. He worked with Howard Brown Memorial Clinic on their speakers bureau and as a volunteer at their PWA drop-in center. He co-founded the Chicago chapter of the National Association of Persons With AIDS. The chapter marched in the 1987 March on Washington, where he also helped organized a direct action protest against the Supreme Court.

He was also active in the Chicago chapter of the NAMES Project, Dykes and Gay Men Against Repression (DAGMAR), Chicago for Our Rights (C-FOR), Chicago for AIDS Rights (C-FAR), ACT NOW, and ACTUP/Chicago. He participated in the August 1987 protest against proposed mandatory AIDS tracing legislation where activists chained themselves to Governor James R. Thompson’s residence in Chicago.

He died in 1989.

Extent

1 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The collection remains in original order.

Physical Location

C2G (Row C, Bay 2, Shelf G)

Provenance

The collection was donated by Bell’s lover, John Tudor, in the autumn of 1991. The original donation included a box of unrelated material that was de-accessioned in 2000 (see Accession Form).