AIDS Memorial Quilt Is Returning Home To San Francisco

The AIDS Memorial Quilt is returning home to San Francisco, where it was first conceived and created in 1987 as an artistic expression of defiance against the deadly disease that ultimately claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
The quilt is a vast patchwork of more than 50,000 brightly colored and hand-crafted 3-by-6 panels commemorating the lives of more than 105,000 people who died of AIDS or related illnesses. Its caretaker, the Names Project, has been based in Atlanta for the past 18 years.
In an announcement Wednesday at the Library of Congress, Julie Rhoad, president and CEO of the Names Project, said that stewardship of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and the Names Project programs will be transferred to the National AIDS Memorial in San Francisco.
"The Quilt will return to San Francisco to where it began more than three decades ago," said Rhoad.