World AIDS Day in Lothian

University of Glasgow student Megan Buchan spent two weeks with us at the start of November as part of her MSc in Information Management and Preservation. Students are asked to catalogue a small collection according to their host institution's cataloguing standards - this work is then used towards an assessed component of their degree. In this week’s blog, Megan shares some of her thoughts on the collection:

Over the course of my two-week placement, I was given the opportunity to catalogue and rehouse the records of the World AIDS Day Organising Committee [WADOC] (Lothian), an Edinburgh-based organisation set up in November 1999. The purpose of the organisation was to advance the education of the public, particularly in relation to World AIDS Day and HIV and AIDS issues, ultimately raising awareness of the disease in the city.

WADOC Lothian committed itself to ensuring World AIDS Day [WAD] was commemorated in Edinburgh on 1st December every year. As part of this, the organisation worked on WAD to: provide an indoor event for participants; to display and distribute information on HIV and AIDS services available in the area; to organise a candle-lit march to an outdoor location for the placing of candles and standing remembrance; and to provide post-vigil hospitality for participants. WADOC was responsible for launching a publicity campaign through the issue of press releases to Scottish media, and for publishing and distributing publicity information to various entertainment venues, schools, health centres, libraries, and community centres.

  

Placing candles in remembrance. 

The collection itself proved an interesting insight into the organisation’s work – as well as expected administrative documents, such as minutes of meetings and financial accounts, the records also included a wide range of correspondence showing the extent of their endeavours. Organising WAD events took much planning, with permissions, support and performers to arrange, and from cataloguing the collection and seeing the correspondence first hand, the magnitude of the group’s energies can be seen. The collection also included printed materials such as posters and leaflets promoting the organised events, and photographs from some of the processional candle-lit marches, bringing the collection together in a full-circle – from the organisation to the outcome!

WADOC were responsible for raising sufficient funds to meet the costs of organising and providing the annual WAD events in Edinburgh themselves, and the collection also includes correspondence, applications for grants, and examples of the money raised from fundraising in the city to continue providing their services.

As well as raising their own funds, WADOC also encouraged other organisations to plan events around WAD, and was able to award funding in the form of their Small Grant Awards to appropriate agencies, groups and individuals for promotion, education, and the support and care of those people living with HIV and AIDS in the Lothians.

 

Order of Perpetual Indulgence packs. GD53/6/3/1

Within the collection, there were numerous applications for these Small Grant Awards, and for one smaller HIV and AIDS related agency, an example of the outcome of the funding they received was included in the collection. The Order of Perpetual Indulgence, a LGBT group dedicated to ending prejudice, used their grant from WADOC to produce safe sex packs, containing health information cards, male and female contraception, latex gloves and lubricant. These packs were then handed out for free to the public in celebration of WAD, and as well as battling stigma and encouraging safe sex, they allowed for people to find out more about the local health services available to them in their area.

While the organisation’s aim was to provide services around Lothian, from cataloguing the collection I found the group recognised its efforts did not represent fully its title as the World AIDS Day Organising Committee, and from this, there were steps made to recognise the needs of those further beyond Edinburgh. With HIV and AIDS being a major issue in third world countries, the group set about to change one of the terms in its constitution in order to donate 10% of its profits to those in need of assistance in the developing world too.

WADOC operated until June 2006, when the dissolution of the organisation became official after it was felt the charity had served its purpose in promoting and educating the public on the issues surrounding HIV and AIDS.

Sample Naming Tree postcard. People were invited to write a message to a loved one lost to HIV/AIVS, and the cards were then hung on a Naming Tree at the Ross Bandstand. GD53/6/3/2

Having had the chance to examine and order each one of records within this collection, I’ve been able to really appreciate the ethos of WADOC in working to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS, provide and distribute health information, and donate to groups to help further those in need of support. This year’s campaign for World AIDS Day is ‘Not Retro, Just Wrong’, aimed at tackling the stigma of being diagnosed with HIV. Keep an eye out for fundraising tins and red ribbons to help continue the fundraising and awareness of HIV and AIDS – something WADOC worked so hard to contribute to.