A charred set of keys, coins fused together from tremendous amounts of heat, a frayed seat belt from United Airlines Flight 93. These are the small items that were left behind after thousands of people were killed in the attacks on September 11, 2001.
They are now among the hundreds upon hundreds of objects under the care and watchful eyes of Smithsonian staff members, telling the story of that single day 25 years ago.
Congress gave the museum the mission three months after 9/11 to collect and preserve the items from that day and those that followed, focusing on three topics: the attacks, the first responders and the recovery efforts.
The museum calls the collection “a work in progress,” as the early work was the “best efforts of staff across the National Museum of American History to document and preserve a wide range of stories” that has now evolved to a “more collaborative community-based approach to find underrepresented and unknown stories.”
“Each object, as material evidence of the attacks and their immediate aftermath, is a piece of a large and complex story. The collections will grow as we gain historical perspective and a greater understanding of the events of September 11,” the museum states on its website.
They range from mundane, everyday items such as a desk plaque, clothing or a wall sign to unrecognizable pieces of twisted metal that came from the planes.
Hundreds of objects include:
World Trade Center
- A purse, wallet and keyring owned by Lorraine Lee from the World Trade Center
- A door from an FDNY fire truck from Ground Zero
- A hole punch from the World Trade Center
- A K-9 unit breathing apparatus from the World Trade Center
- Fused coins from the World Trade Center
- A first floor sign from the World Trade Center
- A female firefighter doll from the World Trade Center
- A charred and damaged U.S. flag from World Trade Center debris
Pentagon
- A partially burned $5 bill from the Pentagon
- A credit card from Flight 77 passenger Leslie Whittington
- Leslie Whittington’s engagement ring
- A desk plaque and pennant from the Pentagon
- Postage stamps from the Pentagon
- Scorched eagle finial from an office flagpole from inside the Pentagon
- A crushed laptop computer from the Pentagon
- A burned military ID card from the Pentagon
Flight 93
- Aircraft seat belts from Flight 93
- Several pieces of Flight 93’s fuselage
- An aircraft emergency oxygen mask from Flight 93
- Aircraft seat cushion fabric from Flight 93
- A damaged GTE air phone from Flight 93
- A fragment of a $20 bill from Flight 93
- Lorraine Bay’s flight crew logbook from Flight 93
- Flight attendant call button from Flight 93
For the 25th anniversary, the approximately 600 items in the collection have been pared down to 40 collected from the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the Flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, which are on display at the American History Museum’s 3W Hall of Music, in Washington, D.C., until Saturday, Sept. 12.
“Displayed on open tables rather than behind glass, these artifacts create a rare opportunity for close looking and personal reflection. Join us to come face-to-face with airplane fragments, first responders’ equipment, Pentagon material, and other recovered objects in an atmosphere that inspires respect and reflection through individual encounters with the collection,” the museum said.
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