The National September 11 Collection
The collections we present on this site represent a work in progress. Early collections embody the best efforts of staff across the National Museum of American History to document and preserve a wide range of stories about September 11. Recent collecting efforts have integrated 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.
La Colección Nacional 11 de Septiembre
La colección que presentamos en este sitio es una obra en progreso. Las primeras recopilaciones plasman los mejores esfuerzos del personal del Museo Nacional de Historia Americana por documentar y preservar una amplia gama de relatos acerca del 11 de septiembre. Los esfuerzos de colección recientes han integrado un enfoque más colaborativo, de base comunitaria, en busca de historias desconocidas o poco representadas. Cada objeto, como evidencia material de los ataques y su secuela inmediata, es un pedazo de una historia larga y compleja. Las colecciones crecerán a medida que ampliemos la perspectiva histórica y la comprensión de los eventos.
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Lisa Lefler's Briefcase
- Description
- Description: This briefcase recovered from the World Trade Center wreckage belonged to Lisa Lefler, an Aon Risk Services employee.
- Context: World Trade Center workers had varied experiences on September 11. While about 2,200 office workers were killed, over 20,000 managed to escape the Twin Towers.
- When the first plane struck the north tower, Lisa Lefler, an Aon Risk Services executive, immediately evacuated her 103rd-floor office in the south tower. In her haste she left her briefcase behind. Seventeen minutes after the north tower was hit the south tower was struck, cutting off the escape path above the 78th floor. Fifty-six minutes later, the entire building collapsed, killing 175 of Lefler's fellow Aon employees.
- Several days later, Boyd Harden, a rescue worker at Ground Zero, found the briefcase in the debris and returned it to Lefler.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- user
- Lefler, Lisa
- maker
- Heritage
- ID Number
- 2002.0053.01
- accession number
- 2002.0053
- catalog number
- 2002.0053.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Police Seach Dog Harness
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1990s
- ID Number
- 2002.0019.01
- accession number
- 2002.0019
- catalog number
- 2002.0019.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Police Seach Helmet
- Description
- Red plastic, search helmet with a large light attached to the front of the helmet with nylon webbing. There is a black battery case attached to the back of the helmet. A reflective sticker is affixed to the sides of the helmet and reads New Yorks State Police. The light illuminates by screwing in the lens ring. This was used during the search and recovery work at the World Trade Center by New York State Police K-9 officer, Richard M. Scranton.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- PMI Helmet with Petzl Light
- ID Number
- 2002.0019.02
- accession number
- 2002.0019
- catalog number
- 2002.0019.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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searchlight
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 2001
- maker
- UNK
- ID Number
- 2002.0019.03
- accession number
- 2002.0019
- catalog number
- 2002.0019.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Cadaver Scent Bag
- Description (Brief)
- This bag contains a synthetic cadaver scent to help keep search dogs on their task. This cadaver scent bag was used at the ruins of the World Trade Center in New York City in 2001 by Trooper Rick Scranton and his German shepherd, Theo, from the New York State Police K-9 Unit. The bag is a soiled white canvas pouch that has a Velcro closure at the top of the bag.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- UNK
- ID Number
- 2002.0019.04
- accession number
- 2002.0019
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Breathing Apparatus
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1990s
- maker
- Comfo Classic
- ID Number
- 2002.0019.05
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Baseball Cap
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 2000
- ID Number
- 2002.0019.06
- accession number
- 2002.0019
- catalog number
- 2002.0019.06
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Fire Axe Head
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Iowa American Firefighting Equipment and Co. Inc.
- ID Number
- 2002.0055.01
- catalog number
- 2002.0055.01
- accession number
- 2002.0055
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Mity-Thin
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Tandy Corporation
- ID Number
- 2002.0055.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Fire Truck Door
- Description
- Description: This collection of New York Fire Department (FDNY) equipment recovered from the debris of the World Trade Center includes a door and tail light panel from a crushed fire truck, two axe heads, and two firefighter’s pry bars.
- Context: When the first hijacked plane crashed into the World Trade Center, the New York Fire Department immediately responded. Officers set up a command center in the lobby of the north tower and bravely rushed up the stairs to rescue the trapped occupants and put out the raging fires. When the towers collapsed, numerous trucks were crushed, and 343 members of the New York Fire Department were killed.
- This door is from a FDNY rescue pumper truck destroyed in the World Trade Center collapse. The truck belonged to Squad One of Brooklyn, part of FDNY’s Special Operations Command, an elite group of firefighters who respond to unique fire and emergency situations. Squad One lost 12 members on Septmeber 11.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2002.0055.04
- accession number
- 2002.0055
- catalog number
- 2002.0055.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Bright Star
- Description
- Description: This flashlight (marked “W. T. C. FIRE SAFETY”) was issued to Hilary North, a fire warden for Aon Risk Services, Inc.
- Context: While about 2,200 office workers died in the World Trade Center attack, many thousands more were able to escape through the elevators and stairs. Following the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the Port Authority made building improvements and increased fire and emergency training for the building occupants. Tenants selected fire wardens for every floor, and each warden was issued a whistle, a hat, and a flashlight. Luckily Hilary North was not yet in her 103rd-floor office when the September 11 attack occurred, because she had stopped to vote in the New York City primary election. Many of her Aon co-workers were able to evacuate, but 175 employees died in the south tower collapse.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2002.0059.01
- catalog number
- 2002.0059.01
- accession number
- 2002.0059
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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World Trade Center ID Card
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Motorola Inc.
- ID Number
- 2002.0059.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
World Trade Center ID Card Holder
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2002.0059.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Melted File Cabinet
- Description
- Description: This crushed file cabinet was recovered from the debris pile at the World Trade Center.
- Context: The World Trade Center complex was home to a wide variety of businesses, including a number of retail stores on the plaza and underground levels. This file cabinet came from a Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream shop that was a popular fixture on the plaza. Terrorist attacks such as those of September 11 often target civilians rather than combatants.
- ID Number
- 2002.0056.01
- accession number
- 2002.0056
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Police Vest, Refelctive
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2002.0056.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Police Helmet, Port Authority
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Cairns & Brother
- ID Number
- 2002.0056.03
- accession number
- 2002.0056
- catalog number
- 2002.0056.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Poster, Port Authority Memorial
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
- ID Number
- 2002.0056.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Wallet, Terry McCormick
- Description
- Description: This wallet complete with its contents was found in the debris pile of the World Trade Center.
- Context: When terrorists crashed an airliner into the World Trade Center, many people evacuated quickly. In his haste to leave his 32nd-floor office in the north tower, Terrence McCormick, Branch Marketing Director for Kemper Insurance, left behind his suit jacket with his wallet. After a harrowing descent down the stairs and getting covered by dust from the collapse of the south tower, McCormick walked seven miles through Brooklyn to a point where he could catch a bus home. Some days later, the police discovered his wallet in the debris and returned it to Mr. McCormick.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2002.0058.01
- accession number
- 2002.0058
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Light Panel, Truck
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2002.0055.03
- accession number
- 2002.0055
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Theodore Olson's Telephone
- Description
- Description: Ted Olson, U.S. solicitor general, received two calls on this office telephone from his wife, Barbara Olson, as her hijacked airplane headed toward the Pentagon.
- Context: Telephones affected the way people experienced September 11. Barbara Olson, a well-known political commentator, made two phone calls to her husband while onboard American Airlines Flight 77 after it was hijacked by terrorists. She learned of the other hijacked planes and discussed with her husband what to do. Despite the terror of the situation, she remained cool and focused; her husband could only console her and listen. At 9:38 am, all fifty-three passengers, six crew members, and five hijackers were killed when the plane crashed into the Pentagon. All over the world, telephones mattered to people that day, as families and coworkers connected with each other to verify their safety or express their love.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1990s
- maker
- Nortel
- ID Number
- 2002.0060.01
- accession number
- 2002.0060
- catalog number
- 2002.0060.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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