Yale GALA in collaboration with the Yale Alumni Association of New York (YAANY) inititiave, Company of Scholars, invites you to delve into the critical history of AIDS in New York: The First Five Years at the New York Historical Society on a private guided tour of the exhibition with its senior curator Jean Ashton. All revenues from this program will be donated to the Yale AIDS Memorial Project (YAMP).

For those who lost partners, children, siblings, parents, and friends to HIV/AIDS in the later years of the twentieth century, the memory of grief, fear, and mystery which pervaded New York at the beginning of the epidemic remains vivid. But for many New Yorkers and others today, this early period from 1981 to 1985 is virtually unknown. The activist movements that changed the nation’s approach to catastrophic disease have overshadowed the panic of this period when a new and fatal enemy to public health was in its earliest stages and no one knew how to combat it. AIDS in New York: The First Five Years explores the impact of the epidemic on personal lives, public health and medical practices, culture, and politics in New York City and the nation. Drawing from the archives of the New York Public Library, New York University, and the National Archive of LGBT History, the show uses posters, photographs, and artifacts to tell the story of the early years of AIDS in New York. This exhibition is set to close on September 15th. Seize upon this privileged access opportunity to engage this material with the exhibition’s senior curator.

The registration process includes a couple of questions intended to provide rich soil for connections among participants and contribute to a purposeful group visit defined by the cross-fertilization of ideas and insights.

All are welcome to this public program, but space is strictly limited and pre-registration is required. Register now to secure your place.

Questions may be directed to the Company of Scholars via e-mail at: companyofscholars@yaany.org.