- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"3.4 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"8 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- unitid
-
{"value"=>"MssCol 5986", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"5986", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1974-1994", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1974/1994"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1974
- date_inclusive_end
-
1994
- keydate
-
1974
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Aldyn McKean papers"}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library. <span class=\"subarea\">Manuscripts and Archives Division</span></span> <div class=\"address\"><span class=\"addressline\">New York, New York</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Aldyn McKean (1948-1994), a gay rights and AIDS activist, was a founding member, spokesman, and grassroots organizer for ACT UP. He represented that organization, among others, at international AIDS conferences and demonstrations. His papers consist of administrative files, writings, correspondence, printed matter, video recordings, and artifacts documenting his participation in several AIDS activist organizations, including ACT UP New York, United for AIDS Action, and Third Wave International, as well as a small amount of personal papers."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>Aldyn McKean Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"McKean, Aldyn", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Aldyn McKean (1948-1994), a gay rights and AIDS activist, was a founding member, spokesman, and grassroots organizer for ACT UP. Originally named John Baldwin McKean, he was raised in Lewiston, Idaho, and studied acting at Harvard, where he performed with the University's Gilbert and Sullivan Players. Harvard exposed McKean to the burgeoning antiwar movement, providing him with his first chance to participate in grassroots organizing. He joined the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and organized several successful campaigns on the Harvard campus, including the elimination of the ROTC program and the establishment of the Department of African American Studies.</p> <p>After his graduation from Harvard in 1971, McKean enlisted to serve a tour of duty in Vietnam as an SDS infiltrator. Shortly after his return to the United States, he came to New York City to study at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, completing his studies in 1975. In 1978, McKean changed his name to Aldyn and pursued a stage career, performing on Broadway and singing as part of a cabaret act, all the while immersing himself in New York City's gay nightlife. McKean believed that it was during this time that he became infected with HIV.</p> <p>McKean became a founding member of ACT UP in 1987. He organized and participated in several of its demonstrations of civil disobedience,demanding increased availability of AIDS drugs, the inclusion of people of color in AIDS drug trials, and the full participation of people with HIV and AIDS in international AIDS conferences. A noted speaker on the topic of long-term AIDS survival, McKean addressed various sessions of the International Conferences on AIDS held in San Francisco in 1990, Florence in 1991, and Berlin in 1993.</p> <p>In 1992, McKean was hired by the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) to work as the administrative coordinator for United for AIDS Action. In this capacity he organized conferences and participated in coordinating the AIDS Walk in Central Park. After a dispute that led to his firing and a subsequent settlement with GMHC, McKean went to work with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Third Wave International, and other organizations devoted to economic and social justice and civil rights issues.</p> <p>In addition to his presentations at AIDS conferences, McKean appeared on television and radio programs (ABC's <span class=\"title\">Nightline</span>, CNN, and National Public Radio), and in the film <span class=\"title\">Voices From the Front</span>, a feature-length documentary on AIDS activism in America created by the video collective Testing the Limits.</p> <p>Aldyn McKean died of AIDS-related complications at his Manhattan apartment in February 1994.</p> <p>Sources:</p> <p>- Hanan, Stephen Mo. \"Remembering Aldyn McKean.\" The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, Mar/Apr 2004, Vol. 11 Issue 2, p.6.</p> <p>- \"Aldyn McKean; Gay Rights Advocate, 45.\" New York Times, March 3, 1994.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Aldyn McKean papers consist of administrative files, writings, correspondence, printed matter, video recordings, and artifacts documenting his participation in several AIDS activist organizations, including ACT UP New York, United for AIDS Action, and Third Wave International. His professional files include materials such as minutes, meeting agendas, and records of demonstrations generated by ACT UP committees and working groups, as well as conference notes, programs, and other materials documenting his participation as a panelist in the long-term survival roundtable of the Ninth International Conference on AIDS held in Berlin in 1993. Subject files contain printed material McKean compiled on HIV/AIDS medical research and on AIDS activism issues.</p> <p>McKean's personal papers include membership cards; photographs; a pocket calendar; gay travel brochures; programs, notes, ephemera on gay nightlife; legal files containing McKean's name change; and a civilian complaint report filed by McKean following a discriminatory attack. Documentation of McKean's participation in SDS and tour of duty in Vietnam is not present in this collection.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Aldyn McKean papers are arranged in six series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/5986#c209582'>Series I. Personal papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1978-1994, undated</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/5986#c209594'>Series II. Professional files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1989-1994</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains documents relating to McKean's activities as an AIDS activist. Included are correspondence, meeting agendas and minutes, handouts, reports, newsletters, phone lists and other documents McKean kept as an organizer and member of ACT UP, Third Wave International, and United for AIDS Action. Also present is material on McKean's participation in several international AIDS conferences and demonstrations.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/5986#c209667'>Series III. Writings</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1988-1993, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series includes handwritten and typescript versions of McKean's articles and speeches.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/5986#c209674'>Series IV. Subject files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1988-1993, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series is comprised of miscellaneous magazines, newsletters, fliers, and other printed items collected by McKean for his personal use and reference. The materials, arranged alphabetically by title, chiefly concern AIDS/HIV medical research and activism.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/5986#c209690'>Series V. Artifacts</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1992, undated</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/5986#c209699'>Series VI. Video recordings</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>undated</div>\n</li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Aldyn McKean Papers are organized in the following series:</p> <ul> <li>Series I. Personal papers, 1978-1994, undated</li> <li>Series II. Professional files, 1989-1994</li> <li>Series III. Writings, 1988-1993, undated</li> <li>Series IV. Subject files, 1988-1993, undated</li> <li>Series V. Artifacts, 1992, undated</li> <li>Series VI. Video recordings, undated</li></ul>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Removed from the ACT UP New York Records.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"archref\">ACT UP New York Records. Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library. .</span> <span class=\"archref\">ACT UP Oral History Project Videotapes. Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library..</span> <span class=\"archref\">People With AIDS Coalition Records. Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library..</span> <span class=\"archref\">Testing the Limits Records. Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.</span> <span class=\"archref\">Tony Davis ACT UP Records. Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.</span>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Cynthia Tobar.</p>"}
- extent_statement
-
3.4 linear feet (8 boxes)
- date_start
-
1974
- date_end
-
1994