UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 32, Page D1
May 21, 1992
Diversity
Piecing together lives lost to AIDS

     The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt is five years old and
15,000 panels large.  The project grew out of one man's idea during an
AIDS awareness march held in San Francisco in June 1987.  Marchers
carried papers bearing the names of friends, family and loved ones who
had died from AIDS.  At the end of the march, the papers were posted
together.
     Inspired by the display of names, Cleve Jones was struck by its
resemblance to a quilt.  He began work on the first panel, which was
completed in October 1987.  It measured 3 feet by 6 feet.  As the idea
for a commemorative quilt spread, more panels, each dedicated to
someone who had died of AIDS, were added.  Eight panels were pieced
together to form one section.
     Today the quilt is so large that, if put together, it would cover
five and a half football fields.
     Only once in its history has the quilt been displayed in one
place and in its entirety. In 1987, the first major exhibit-almost
2,000 panels-took place on the Mall between the Washington Monument
and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.