From the Darkroom: Quilts honoring Ozarks loved ones part of 1991 AIDS Project exhibit

In this March 29, 1991 photo from the News-Leader, Gary Hoggard, executive director of AIDS Project of the Ozarks, displays two of more than 500 quilts from The Names Project that were coming to the Ozarks as part of an exhibit at Southwest Missouri State University and sponsored by AIDS Project of the Ozarks.

Each quilt measured 3 feet by 6 feet, meant to represent the size of a grave, and paid tribute to a lover or loved one lost to AIDS-related diseases. Together, the quilts formed a tapestry of an epidemic, with some 14,000-and-counting quilts.

Among the panels would be ten already contributed by Ozarks families, with another 20 or so quilts made by Ozarks residents to be added while the display was in Springfield. Hoggard said the AIDS Project was encouraging attendance by schoolchildren, with leaflets being sent to schools throughout the AIDS Project’s 25-county region and one day of the exhibit being designated as Student Day.

Hoggard himself would die from an AIDS-related disease on Oct. 10, 1992.

This image is part of a much larger collection of historically rich photographs from the News-Leader’s photo archive. Each week, the Springfield-Greene County Library will tap into this vast collection and present an interesting image “from the darkroom" and share its history. This image is presented in partnership between the Springfield-Greene County Library District and the Springfield News-Leader. For more historical images of the Ozarks, visit: thelibrary.org/fromthedarkroom .

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: From the Darkroom: Quilts honoring Ozarks loved ones part of 1991 AIDS Project exhibit