The idea for the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was conceived in 1985 in San Francisco, and the Quilt was first displayed in 1987 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The Quilt consists of sewn and embroidered cloth panels made to commemorate loved ones who died of AIDS-related illness. When first unveiled, the Quilt was larger than a football field and had 1,920 panels. It began touring across the US in the late 1980s, raising money for AIDS research and support, and adding panels at each stop. The Quilt eventually grew too large to display in its entirety and is now housed in San Francisco under the stewardship of the National AIDS Memorial. As of 2020, it had over 50,000 panels and weighed 54 tons.
This image shows a display of part of the AIDS Memorial Quilt at the Hec Edmundson Pavilion of the University of Washington (UW). By this time the Quilt included more than 40,000 panels and was already too large to fully display. This display at UW included about 1,600 panels.
Caption information source: "The History of the Quilt," National AIDS Memorial, retrieved from https://www.aidsmemorial.org/quilt-history Caption information source: "Draped in sadness," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 15, 1997, page A1.
