New Images Added to Largest Collection of AIDS Education Posters Online Exhibit for World AIDS Day
November 27, 2012 - To mark World AIDS Day on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012, more than 1,000 new posters from one of the world's largest AIDS education poster collections have been
digitized and put online by archivists at the University of Rochester.
Launched online last October
during the 30th anniversary year of the identification of HIV/AIDS, the exhibit from the Atwater AIDS Education Poster Collection
draws from an assortment of more than 6,200 posters from more than 100 countries in 60 languages and dialects. While selections
of the posters have been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and other locations, once completed, the online collection
will provide the first opportunity for the public to view the collection in its entirety.
Collected by retired physician Dr. Edward C. Atwater, an emeritus professor of medicine at the University
of Rochester Medical Center, the posters provide a visual history of the first three decades of the HIV/AIDS crisis
from 1981 to the present.
"When Dr. Atwater decided to donate the collection, he thought it was appropriate to donate it to the University's library because
he felt it is not just a medical history, but a social and cultural history," said Melissa S. Mead, the university's John M. and
Barbara Keil University Archivist and Rochester Collections Librarian.
"My hope is to show people the responses from various societies to a deadly disease. Looked at chronologically, the AIDS
posters show how social, religious, civic, and public health agencies tailored their message to different groups," said
Atwater, 86, a self-professed collector who lives in Rochester, N.Y. Depending on their audience, creators of the
posters used stereotypes, scare tactics, provocative language, imagery, and even humor to educate the public about the disease.
More than 2,000 of the collection's posters are now online with additional posters being added on a regular basis. "A lot of
these posters are in foreign languages and need translating. We are eager to have people send in translations and to send us
suggestions for tagging, which will enable connections between posters that we haven't made ourselves," said Mead.
To access the Atwater AIDS education posters collection online visit http://aep.lib.rochester.edu/ . In
addition to searching the posters, the site contains research conducted by Rochester students who have used the collections,
an introduction to the collection by Alexander Breier Marr, a doctoral student in visual and cultural studies, and links
to additional AIDS educational resources
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About the University of Rochester
The University of Rochester ( www.rochester.edu ) is one
of the nation's leading private universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the University gives students exceptional
opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based
curriculum. Its College, School of Arts and Sciences, and Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
are complemented by its Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education,
Laboratory for Laser Energetics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Nursing,
Eastman Institute for Oral Health, and the Memorial Art Gallery.
