John Washburn Papers

This collection consists of the papers of John Washburn (January 6, 1939-June 22, 1989), an educator and AIDS activist who was the first person to publicly state that he was HIV-positive in the Rochester area. Born in Oklahoma, Washburn received a doctoral degree from Harvard before serving as an administrator in the Englewood, Colorado and Great Neck, Long Island, schools. Brighton Central School District hired him as superintendent in 1979. Washburn maintained a carefully curated private life that hid his homosexuality from those outside his circle of gay friends. This divided life began to fail when he was diagnosed with HIV in 1986. As the illness progressed, Washburn decided to resign his position in 1987; in 1988, he went public with his story and was the first person to publicly state that he or she was living with AIDS in Rochester. Washburn moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico in January of 1989 and passed away there in June of the same year.