The AIDS History Project (AHP) began in 1987 as a collaboration of historians, archivists, AIDS activists, and others preserving the history of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco. The initial phase was sponsored by the UCSF Library and Center for Knowledge Management, Archives & Special Collections.

Funding for several phases of the AIDS History Project and the successor AIDS Epidemic Historical Records Project was provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

The UCSF AIDS History Project was started in 1987 to promote the preservation of historically significant resources relating to the beginning of the AIDS Epidemic, focusing on the responses by community-based organizations (CBOs) within San Francisco, as well as activists' coalitions.

In 1991 an NHPRC grant funded the AIDS History Project Records Survey. Archivists surveyed more than 50 agencies and identified records to target for permanent preservation. A second two-year NHPRC grant funded an extended survey of collections and development of an acquisition plan. A major part of the project was providing instruction in records management practices to the CBOs.

A third NHPRC grant, received in 1993, funded the records acquisition and processing phase. Over the next 3 years, UCSF acquired 28 collections; of those, 14 were processed, either partially or fully.

In 2004, NHPRC funded the AIDS Epidemic Historical Records Project, a collaboration of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society (GLBTHS) and UCSF Archives & Special Collections. Over the next 2 years, a UCSF project archivist completed processing 18 existing collections. In addition, UCSF acquired records from the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, and the UCSF AIDS Health Project. GLBTHS acquired records of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Shanti Project.