We are pleased to let you know that a section of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display on the second floor of the Davis Family Library, beginning the week of April 11 through the end of April. This display is part of a current course “Constructing Memory: American Monuments and Memorials,” and we are glad to make it available and open the the community.  We will have an interactive component for those who wish to share their reflections to the display; these will be added to an area adjacent to the AIDS Memorial Quilt display. 

We invite all interested members of the community to visit the display, share reflections and incorporate it into your own courses or conversations. Below, please find more information about The Quilt. 

AIDS Memorial Quilt Background: In June of 1987, a small group of strangers gathered in a San Francisco storefront to document the lives they feared history would neglect. Their goal was to create a memorial for those who had died of AIDS, and to thereby help people understand the devastating impact of the disease. This meeting of devoted friends and lovers served as the foundation of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.

On October 11, 1987, The Quilt included 1,920 panels and was displayed for the first time on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. during the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. The Quilt returned to Washington, D.C. in October of 1988, when 8,288 panels were displayed on the Ellipse in front of the White House. The entire Quilt was again displayed on the National Mall in 1992 and 1996, when it contained approximately 37,440 individual panels. Today, the Quilt contains more than 94,000 names on 48,000 panels.

The Quilt was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, and is today the largest community art project in the world.  (from http://www.aidsquilt.org/about/medianewsroom#Facts )

AIDS Quilt Image(Photo courtesy of the NAMES Project Foundation)

The display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt at Middlebury College is sponsored by the Center for Teaching, Learning and Research; the American Studies Program; the Davis Family Library; and the Scott Center for Spiritual and Religious Life.

Deb Evans, American Studies

Lisa Gates, Center for Teaching, Learning and Research

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