Humanities and Social Sciences Library > Collections > Manuscripts > Finding Aids

Mark Lowe Fisher Collection, 1988-1991

Contents

Summary

Main Entry: Mark Lowe Fisher

Title: Collection, 1988-1991

Size: 2.3 linear ft. (3 archival boxes; 1 flat box)

Source: Gift of ACT UP/New York, 1996

Finding Aid: Compiled by Valerie Wingfield, July 1997 (rev. MBB 10/29/98)

Biographical Statement: Mark Lowe Fisher was a member of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), an activist organization formed in 1987 in New York City. ACT UP utilizes mass demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience to focus public and governmental attention on crucial AIDS issues. Fisher died of AIDS-related causes in 1992. Jon Greenberg (who himself died of AIDS-related causes a year later) eulogized Fisher, noting that he made "even his death an act of empowerment for his community and giving each of us an opportunity to publicly declare our presence, our pain, our right to life to be proud of our deaths."

Description: The collection consists primarily of material relating to ACT UP demonstrations attended by Fisher in Albany, New York City, Atlanta and Maine. "Target Bush" (1991) is the most thoroughly documented ACT UP demonstration in this collection. The collection also contains other documents by and about ACT UP, as well as broadsides and ephemera by ACT UP and other organizations. Fisher was arrested several times at demonstrations, and his arrest records are included in the collection. The remainder of the material consists of subject files and personal miscellany, such as Fisher’s calendars, 1983-1991.

Special formats: Broadsides, ephemera, photographic prints, artifacts

Related Collections: ACT UP Records; Gran Fury Collection. See the Manuscripts and Archives Division’s guide, "Gay and Lesbian Collections; AIDS/HIV Collections" for related materials in this division.

Container List

BOX

FOLDER

 
   

ACT UP

1

1

General Information

 

2-3

Broadsides, ephemera

 

4

Broadsides, ephemera (other organizations)

     
   

DEMONSTRATIONS BY ACT-UP

 

5

Albany, NY 1990

 

6-7

Atlanta, GA 1990

 

8

ACT UP/ACT NOW FDA Action Demands 1988

 

9

Target City Hall 1989

 

10

Stop the Church (St. Patrick’s Cathedral) 1989

 

11

National Institutes of Health 1990

 

12-13

Target Bush 1991

     

2

1-3

Target Bush 1991

 

4

Articles regarding Target Bush

 

5

Obits Action targets Bush

 

6

Wall Street demonstration, arrest record 1988

 

7

Wall Street demonstration 1988

     
   

SUBJECTS

 

8

NYC Health Commission, NYC Health issues 1988

 

9

State/City Action/Access Committee

 

10

City Hall Issues Committee

 

11

Housing 1989

     

3

1

A His & Herstory of Queer Activism.
Lesbian & Gay Activist History Project June 1989
 

2

Dr. Stephen Joseph trial February 1989

 

3

ACT UP (articles about)

 

4-5

Articles about AIDS and related subjects

 

6

ACT UP Reports 1988-1989

 

7

Other organizations’ reports

     
   

PERSONAL MISCELLANY

3

8-12

Calendars, 1983-1991

 

13-15

Farewell card, miscellany

     

4

 

Pen and ink sketch of an outdoor scene.

   

Complimentary bag from the Union Story and Trust Savings Bank.

    Broadside: "10,000 New York City Aids deaths. How’m I doin?"
(New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch)

Melanie A. Yolles
October, 1998