Guide to the Bruce Voeller Papers,
1956-1990

A biologist, researcher, and founder of the Mariposa Education and Research Foundation, Voeller died from AIDS-related complications on February 13, 1994 at his home in Topanga, Calif. Voeller was perhaps best known for coining the acronym AIDS for "acquired immune deficiency syndrome," a term he used in objection to the disease's earlier label, GRID, or "gay-related immune disorder." From 1961 to 1972, he held various positions on the faculty of Rockefeller University. A prominent gay rights activist, Voeller helped found the National Gay Task Force (NGTF) in 1973 and with Jean O'Leary, served as first co-directors. He also served as President of the Gay Activists Alliance in New York City. In 1980, Voeller established the Mariposa Foundation based in Topanga, to conduct human sexuality research, placing special emphasis on reducing the risks of sexually transmitted diseases. At the time of his death, Voeller's research with the Mariposa Foundation centered on the reliability of various brands of condoms in preventing the spread of diseases. A result of this research was a study funded in part by the American Foundation for AIDS Research and the National Institutes of Health, that ranked 31 brands of condoms under various conditions. Voeller was also conducting viral leakage studies for the recently approved "female" condom.

Mariposa also worked to protect research material on the social and political aspects of sexuality. Aware that papers, books, and ephemera on the lesbian and gay rights movement were in particular danger of being lost or destroyed, a network of volunteers searched for and gathered such material together. As this collection grew, Voeller and his friend David B. Goodstein began to consider how to ensure its preservation and professional care, make it more widely accessible for scholarship, and increase its visibility. They believed that the time had come for a major research library to take up the project of documenting sexuality. The gift of the Mariposa archives to Cornell University Library in 1988 launched such a program -- the Human Sexuality Collection.

The Bruce Voeller collection consists of correspondence, reprints and photocopies of reports, periodicals, and the practical and perfunctory unsolicited mailings of information by a large number of organizations, associations, and gay special interest groups, all of which concern themselves with gay and lesbian issues of health care, activism and politics, public awareness, celebration, and fundraising. These mailings display the varied statements of information and notification, invitations, and assertions of need and concern in gay and lesbian society, from the liberation and matters of entitlement and empowerment, to its recognition of and dealing with AIDS, both politically and medically. Several hundred American gay and lesbian organizations and groups are represented in the collection. Voeller's role in the transfer of the Mariposa Education and Research Foundation's Archives to Cornell University, and the establishment of David B. Goodstein's bequest is documented in the correspondence. Also included is the typescript of prose fiction by Voeller, "Murder at McGurk."

Also, files pertaining to the Responsive Gay Collective, the Gay Media Alliance, demonstrations in New York City, the Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee, the 1979 Gay Pride Celebration in New York City, the Lesbian and Gay Neighbors of Lower Manhattan, and the Chelsea Gay Association.

Also, photographs of Voeller with other gay activists and sexuality researchers including Evelyn Hooker, staff of the National Gay Task Force, David McWhirter, Andrew Mattison, and Jean O'Leary; Voeller's research files on condoms and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases; Voeller's articles on topics of botany, sexually transmitted diseases, and gay fathers and gay rights; and Voeller's files from the gay rights movement and his work with the Mariposa Foundation, 1973-1990.

Files on botany include a small collection of dried plant specimens.

Materials are arranged according to the original folder headings, when present, which are the primary level of access.