New Delhi: Thousands of fabric pieces were stitched by people around the world in memory of the 2,977 victims of the 9/11 attacks. This huge tribute will now be preserved at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s International Quilt Museum.
The museum will be home to the ‘United in Memory 9/11 Quilt Project’. The memorial is made up of 142 large panels, with each panel containing blocks dedicated to the victims of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
“September 11 is one of those historic world events that will always be remembered,” said Leslie Levy, executive director of the museum, as reported by Nebraska Today. “This is an incredible way to remember it, with 142 panels and a block representing each of the nearly 3,000 victims. It tells the full story and shows the scale of 9/11.”
How the quilt came through
Corey Gammel and Peter Marquez from Long Beach, California, organized the quilt project. A few weeks after the 9/11 attacks, Gammel and Marquez had visited Ground Zero in New York City. Deeply affected by what they saw, and inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt, they decided to start an organization dedicated to creating the United in Memory 9/11 Victims Memorial Quilt.
They created a website and asked people to help make quilt blocks. Quiltmakers, families and friends of victims, and others who wanted to help joined the project.
Around 3,600 people from 18 countries participated in making these handmade quilts. The 10-by-10-foot quilt panels were acquired by the museum in 2015. Together, the panels cover approximately 15,000 square feet. The panels can also be viewed online through the International Quilt Museum’s website.
With the title “United in Memory of 9/11 Victims Memorial Quilt,” the website displays all the quilt pictures in small blocks.
“There were so many people who were making quilts dedicated to 9/11 — that’s just what quilters do when an event like that happens: They turn to quilts as a way to deal with their grief, but also as a way to document that event,” said Carolyn Ducey, former curator of collections for the International Quilt Museum, who is now retired.
Ducey added that the quilt has not only became part of the museum’s collection, but its panels will also be on display for generations to come. She said this is important for remembering their collective history of the attack and for honouring the victims.
“It was just such an impactful time. It’s interesting to see people look at the quilts now, sometimes who are younger, that don’t remember that day and remember that feeling,” Ducey said.