The AIDS Quilt: Digitized at the Library

The Library of Congress has released a groundbreaking online collection of the National AIDS Memorial Quilt Records, making one of the most poignant symbols of the AIDS epidemic in the United States available to a global audience.

As the largest communal art project in the world, the AIDS Memorial Quilt honors the lives of all Americans who have died of AIDS since 1981, when the disease was first identified.

Released to coincide with World AIDS Day (Dec. 1) commemorations, the newly digitized collection offers a unique window into the deeply personal stories behind the 55-ton quilt and its panels. The digitized collection, totaling more than 125,000 items, includes letters, diaries, photographs and other materials documenting the lives of those represented in the Quilt.

The digitized archive is now reunited online with the communal folk art of the quilt panels. Together, these digitized collections will make the Quilt available to everyone. While the Quilt is housed at the National AIDS Memorial in San Francisco, its voluminous records have been entrusted to the American Folklife Center since 2019.

“In the digital age, we have the responsibility and privilege to safeguard this history so that, through every pixel, it can continue to educate, heal, and inspire people for generations to come,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt, created by a group of community volunteers in San Francisco in 1987, has not only been a testament to the lives lost to AIDS but also a powerful tool for advocacy and a stark reminder of the impact of the epidemic on a local, national and global scale.

“Through this project, the power of the collection will now be available to all through the digital platform and can now be reunited with the Quilt panels to which they were originally connected,” said John B. Cunningham, chief executive officer of the National AIDS Memorial. “This collection keeps the stories of the lives cut short alive and allows society to learn from them.”

LGBTQ activist Cleve Jones created the Quilt’s first panel in honor of his friend Marvin Feldman, a 33-year-old actor who died of AIDS in 1986.

“There’s a promise in a quilt. It’s not a shroud or a tombstone,” Jones said. “I don’t want to stop remembering Marvin Feldman and all the other friends of mine who have gone.”

Judy Soons, a mother who lost her sons Sydney and Jim to AIDS, crafted a shared panel to commemorate the closeness of her sons. Soons channeled her grief into supporting others, drawing strength from the community formed through the Quilt.

The late Sylvester James, a gay African American disco star, became a symbol of the fight for LGBTQ equality. Known for his bold and unapologetic embrace of his identity, James rose to international fame with his anthem “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” serving as a soundtrack for sexual and gender liberation movements. His life and legacy continue to inspire generations, celebrating resilience, self-expression and joy in the face of adversity.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt Records, totaling over 200,000 items, offer an intimate look at the victims’ lives through such artifacts as photos, manuscript letters, diaries, greeting cards, notebooks, tributes, obituaries, epitaphs, pamphlets, fabric swatches, original artwork and so much more. More than half the collection has now been digitized.

While care and treatment can now make HIV a manageable chronic condition, about 8,000 people die with HIV-related illness as a contributing cause of death each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. More than more than 1.2 million people are living with HIV in the U.S. and there are around 31,800 new infections each year.

Digitization of the archive was made possible by the generous support of the Ford Foundation, which provided core funding for the Library’s “For the People: Fund for Powering Knowledge,” designed to connect Americans with important social movements and showcase how they shape the fabric of American life and government.

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