Stories of compassion, love and loss: Re-presenting the AIDS epidemic

The National Archives holds an extensive collection of material related to the HIV and AIDS epidemic of the 1980s.

This includes the 1987 AIDS Advertising Evaluation Dataset aimed to capture a snapshot of the public reaction to the 1987 Public Health Campaign. While the survey retains misconceptions around the spread and impact of HIV on people at the time of creation, its raw data can unlock opportunities for research and digital storytelling.

Our collection works hand-in-hand with histories preserved elsewhere by voluntary groups and in community archives, such as The National HIV Story Trust. Their mission is to film, record and preserve the history of those affected by the AIDS pandemic. In 2019 they deposited 100 of their filmed interviews with the London Archives, amounting to more than 150 hours of material and making it the largest archival collection of its kind in the UK.

Join Researchers Giorgia Tolfo and Bernard Ogden (The National Archives) and James King (Project Manager, the National HIV Story Trust), who will be sharing more about some of the ways in which archives and communities are working to re-present the AIDS epidemic.