Responding to AIDS: The Seattle-King County Department of Public Health, 1982-1996 (review)

During the 1980s, AIDS shook the Western world. Both its incurability and the stigmatized status of the methods by which it was spread contributed to a large-scale sense of panic and paranoia among the American population. Of all the large urban areas afflicted by the disease in the United States, the Seattle-King County area in particular emerged as a leader in the fields of AIDS research and prevention. The King County Historical Archives' online exhibit, Responding to AIDS, seeks to share the stories of the medical leaders and community members behind this effort and to document the challenges they faced in addressing their community's AIDS problem. Through its use of oral history interviews, the site succeeds in both documenting a historical movement and evoking personal investment in the topic from its audience.

The project's creators organize it much in the style of a physical museum exhibit, with each page presenting a different topic under the larger umbrella of the Seattle area's response to AIDS. Topics include the emergence of and response to the disease as well as public prevention programs. Some pages focus on specific campaigns or efforts taken by the medical research community, while others emphasize particular issues that arose surrounding the disease, such as injection drug use. The ordering of the pages tends to be chronological, with the first page focusing on the emergence of AIDS and the last page (not counting the gallery) focusing on the disease's legacy. In this way, the user of the website can gain a linear, story-like understanding of developments within the research and prevention effort.

Viewed as a whole, these pages demonstrate several important points about the response of the Seattle-King County community to the emergence of AIDS. First of all, one can understand the specific factors that made the county, as one title suggests, "Poised to Respond." For example, the progressive sociopolitical climate of the city played a large factor in their timely response to AIDS. Since the gay community was stronger and less stigmatized in Seattle than in other large metropolitan areas, homophobia proved to be less of a limiting factor in educating the public about the disease. Conversely, the website also brings to light the obstacles to a clear path for AIDS prevention, such as the homophobia still prevalent within communities of color. This synthesis of factors for success and challenge stands as one of the most important points made by the website.

The archive employs a combination of sources to deliver information, including text, firsthand document sources, and oral histories. Advertisement campaign posters stand as visual sources from the actual time of the AIDS crisis. The photographs and drawings provide a unique glimpse into the time period not easily gained through secondhand sources, with correlating text descriptions to provide historical context. As perhaps the most important source, the oral history interviews make this information personal; they give the website's viewer an intimate look into the lives of those affecting and affected by the movement for AIDS research and prevention.

Oral history interview excerpts supplement topical portions of the exhibit and there is a dedicated "Oral Histories" section of the online exhibit for the more invested patron, featuring each oral history interview presented in full. The oral history clips involve the audience, providing relevant information while staying short enough to hold the attention of any type of audience, including browsers. Narrators include public health professionals, activists, researchers, physicians, scientists, administrators, and educators.

While the content provided through these interviews is enlightening, one of the most significant omissions of content diversity is found within "Expanding Outreach," the section detailing challenges faced by AIDS-affected communities of color. While community organizers and medical health professionals provided important context, this reviewer wanted to listen to the stories of people of color from these communities. "Barriers to AIDS Education," for example, features Robert...