Health and Medicine | Page 17

Aliveness Project t-shirt logo

An Aliveness Project t-shirt design. Used with the permission of the Aliveness Project.

Aliveness Project brochure

A brochure explaining the Aliveness Project’s therapy options, including massage and acupuncture, for people living with HIV/AIDS. Used with the permission of the Aliveness Project.

ACT UP handbill

ACT UP handbill announcing a march against HIV/AIDS held at the Aquatennial in Minneapolis on July 18, 1990.

In 1981, AIDS was a mystery illness—a so-called “gay plague” because of its initial appearance among men who had sex with other men in large coastal cities like New York and San Francisco. Minnesotans breathed a sigh of relief, thinking they were far enough from the epidemic to be safe. But they were wrong.

Ruse Hospital

Ruse Hospital in Windom (Cottonwood County), ca. 1910s. The hospital, owned by Sophia Ruse, opened in 1906 and closed in 1920.

Influenza Epidemic in Cottonwood County, 1918

The 1918 influenza epidemic had a devastating effect on communities across Minnesota, including those in Cottonwood County. Over the course of five months (October 1918–February 1919), seventy-two residents of the county died from the virus or from pneumonia-related complications.