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In the nineteenth-century, Baltimore women made beautifully there was no formal recognition of it as a national tragedy. There were no
appliqued album quilts. Some were made in memory of soldiers who formal commemorations for those who had died as would typically occur
died in the Mexican-American war. Diane Schweier Krail writes of a in response to the loss of lives on such a mass scale.
deathwatch quilt made by the women in a Baltimore area family. This The ever-growing Quilt, begun in 1987, is comprised of nearly 48,000
elaborate album quilt was made over several months during the family three-foot by six-foot fabric tributes to more than 100,000 loved ones lost
patriarch’s final illness. The author tells us this quilt displays many sym- to AIDS. Considered the largest community art project in history, The
bols of mourning, “Floral symbolism on the quilt includes laurel for AIDS Memorial Quilt is a powerful and colorful reminder of the names
eternity, acorns for immortality, and roses for the frailty of life ...” and faces behind the statistics. It tours the nation and the world, helping

dispel fear and stigma while offering solace to millions.
Precious Photographs Perhaps With a Quilt Sections of the quilt, now housed where it all began in San Francisco,
During the Victorian Era, a deceased child may have been continue to be placed on exhibit around the country. For a list of
photographed so that family would have a picture to help them remember upcoming showings, visit aidsquilt.org
their lost little one. Such a picture might show the child in bed as if asleep
under a beloved quilt. In many of these pictures the child is holding
flowers or a favorite toy. Looking at the picture parents could imagine the QUILTING IN REPONSE TO 9/11
child was simply sleeping, perhaps overseen by loving angels.
911memorial.org
Quilts Can Still Sooth The Grieving Today
An example of modern use is found in the following quote from
Lorrie Starr Crawford –
My Mother passed away in February. While my sisters, brother & I
were making the funeral arrangements, I hit upon the idea to cover her
casket with an old green and white quilt that Mother had worked on
nearly 20 years. She pieced and pieced (by hand of course) all the time we
were growing up. The quilt finally was quilted 15 years ago, again by
hand. This time, everyone in the family had a seat at the frames while
they visited. Somehow it seemed right that this “family project” should
cover her while she “rested” during the service.
At the end of the service, my sisters and I came up to the casket and
folded the quilt. Then we presented it to my brother for him to take home.

To New York, Washington and anyone who lost someone today. Collection 9/11
THE AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT Memorial Museum, Gift of Drunell Levinson and of the contributors to the
September 11 Quilts Memorial Exhibition. Photo by Drunell Levinson.
The National AIDS Memorial, aidsmemorial.org
Overwhelmed by grief, fear, and anger in the wake of 9/11, people
around the world searched for ways to help. For those unable to
The AIDS Memorial Quilt on participate in the rescue and recovery efforts at the attack sites, quilt
display on the National Mall
making became an option for offering practical, creative, and symbolic
consolation to, and support for 9/11 family members, responders,
survivors, and others who were directly affected by the attacks.
“I didn’t know what to do, think, even feel,” recalled Sarah Roberts,
the maker of a quilt featuring a bouquet of white roses tied with red, white,
and blue ribbon and titled To New York, Washington and anyone who lost
someone today. (shown below) “The only thing I felt entirely sure of was
sadness, and compassion for those who lost their lives and loved ones.”
“I wanted to put flowers on a sidewalk memorial,” said Roberts of her
quilt, which is one of more than 150 in the collection 9/11 Memorial
Museum. “To remember the dead and comfort the living.”

The National Tribute Quilt
A 30-foot long quilt created by four women in response to 9/11 was
donated to the 9/11 Memorial Museum and is now on view. The
National Tribute Quilt is among the new installations in the Museum’s
Thirty-two years ago a group of strangers gathered at a San Francisco Tribute Walk, an area for large-scale works of art created in the aftermath
storefront to remember the names and lives of their loved ones they feared of 9/11. The 8-foot tall quilt contains nearly 3,500 fabric squares created
history would forget – and with that seemingly simple act of love and by people in all 50 states and five countries. Stitched together, the squares
defiance, the first panels of The AIDS Memorial Quilt (The Quilt) were depict the New York City skyline with the Twin Towers. The quilt also
created and The NAMES Project Foundation (NPF) created. represents the Pentagon and the four flights hijacked on 9/11.
Three years later and just a few miles
away in Golden Gate Park, another small
group of San Franciscans, also represent-
ing a community devastated by the AIDS
epidemic, restored Golden Gate Park to
create a serene place where people seeking
healing could gather to express their
collective grief through a living memorial,
an AIDS memorial, which is now known
as the National AIDS Memorial.
The public response to both of
these initiatives was fervent because for
the first several years into the epidemic, The National Tribute Quilt hangs in the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s Tribute Walk. Photo by Jin Lee.
the stigma surrounding AIDS meant
32 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles