AI-assisted summary

A hand-embroidered wall hanging was created in 1976 by students with intellectual disabilities at the Sidney Lanier Training Center.

After being stored in a closet for years, the bicentennial tribute has significantly degraded and is in need of restoration.

The Matheson Museum is raising $5,000 to restore the piece for display in time for the nation's 250th birthday in 2026.

This bicentennial project is cause for celebration in itself. Not because it took so long to complete. Not because it is made of 49 separately hand-embroidered squares. But because the students at Sidney Lanier Training Center made it.

— Gainesville Sun, July 4, 1976.

By sheer coincidence, my arrival at The Gainesville Sun more of less coincided with the hanging of a very special tribute to

See Full Page