By far the largest series in the collection, the "Subject Files" include everything from newspapers clippings to correspondence and published works to working documents and handwritten notes. Arranged alphabetically by "Subject" these files represent the breadth of materials, topics of interest and research done by the IHPS-ARP. Many of the topics of these folders overlap with each other and with other parts of the collection. Some of these materials are exact duplicates of materials found elsewhere, but were left where they were to illustrate that the IHPS-ARP classified them under multiple categories. Some subjects are also covered more than once within the "subject" classifications. For example: materials on IV drug users are filed under the IV Drug Use and under Risk Groups - IV Drug Users, as well as related terms such as Substance Abuse and Needle exchange. Related materials may also be found in other series as well. Individual topics can be represented by everything from a couple of newspaper clippings in a single folder to multiple folders including original materials. For preservation reasons, newspaper clippings have been segregated to the front of each folder in which they appear, with original items being found further back in the folders.

The only real condensing of folders was done with the Conferences section of this series. Originally individual folders had been created for each of these conferences even though a large number of the folders contained only a one or two pieces of paper. These folders were combined to create the date runs found in the finding guide. Note: Like most of the other folders in this collection much of the materials in the folders were arranged reverse chronologically and some randomly within the file. A few of the conferences covered are 1988: Caring for the AIDS Patient (SF), Skills Building Conference (New Orleans) - mentioned in the Nancy Stoller and other Collections; 2nd Annual International Lesbian and Gay Health Conference & AIDS Forum (Boston) - includes the Summer 1988 issue of Sexual Health Reports; AIDS & Mental Health: Beyond the Basics (Berkeley); American Hospitals & Human Values (Tampa); Humane & Dignified Death (SF) - sponsored by the National Hemlock Society, and the California Association of AIDS Agencies Annual Conference (Sacramento) - which Pat Franks attended. 1987: Homosexuality Beyond Disease (Amsterdam); Ethical Issues of Rationing Healthcare (Chicago); AIDS: Fact Versus Fiction (SF); AIDS Business Update (NYC); Media Coverage of AIDS Seminar (DC) - Franks, Curran, etc involved; Life, Death & the Challenge of AIDS (St. Paul) - a Residential Workshop for People with AIDS; AIDS/ARC Update '87 (SF) - draft program, planning committee included Angie Lewis and Barry Day of UCSF;, Conference on AIDS & IV Drug Use (DC) - put on by the Red Cross; AIDS is Everybody's Business (SF) - Union sponsored workshops; AIDS and Ethnic Minorities (SF); and Talks on Natural Therapies for Chronic Viral Diseases (SF).

Of special interest are the URSA Institute files at the end of the series, which include the AIDS Community Education Effectiveness Study Grant application, as well as correspondence and handwritten notes. AIDS or "AIDS and" subjects take up the equivalent of a full carton. The Annenberg Teleconference folder includes both slides and an audio cassette tape. One of the folders under "Risk Groups - Women" contains the complete Women & AIDS Clinical Resource Guide prepared by the SF AIDS Coalition while, "Risk Groups - Lesbians" contains a clipping and a single pamphlet. Under "Immunity" is a book Mind and Immunity: Behavioral Immunology an annotated bibliography from 1983. Cost of AIDS Care is one of the larger groups of folders. The Funding/Foundation files also contain a wide range of materials including clippings, reports, correspondence, and information on a conference on AIDS funding (in which Philip R. Lee was a participant/organizer). The Healthcare Professionals folders deal with both protecting the professional from the patient and the patient from the professional.