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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Jan Maciejewski Wallet
- Description
- Description: This wallet belonged to Jan Maciejewski, a Polish immigrant who was a waiter at Windows on the World, located in the 107th floor of the North Tower.
- Context: Jan hadn’t been scheduled to work the morning shift on September 11, 2001, but had agreed to fill in for a friend. According to newspaper reports, 99 percent of the people below the points of impact survived. Yet for those above the impact zones or trapped in elevators, there was no escape. Jan’s wallet was found in the debris; it contained $32 in burnt bills, 12 business cards, an address book and card holder.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2004.0269.01
- accession number
- 2004.0269
- catalog number
- 2004.0269.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Fax Machine, Crushed
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2002.0238.17
- catalog number
- 2002.0238.17
- accession number
- 2002.0238
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
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
-
American flag recovered from the World Trade Center
- Description
- Description: This badly damaged American flag was found by a recovery worker in the World Trade Center debris at the Staten Island recovery site.
- Context: The dominant symbol to emerge from the September 11 tragedy was the American flag. Raised over the World Trade Center ruins and hung from the damaged Pentagon, the flag became a powerful symbol of patriotism, survival, and resilience. Many Americans, who at one time had rejected overt displays of patriotism, returned to flying the flag at home, at work, even from their cars. The shared symbolism of the meaning of the flag helped unite Americans in a time of crisis. Only a few American flags from the World Trade Center survived the attacks of September 11, 2001.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- associated date
- 2002 - 09 through 2006
- ID Number
- 2003.0007.01
- accession number
- 2003.0007
- catalog number
- 2003.0007.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Charlie Falkenberg's Luggage Tag
- Description (Brief)
- This is Charlie Falkenberg's luggage tag, which he carried as a passenger onboard American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2005.0019.04
- accession number
- 2005.0019
- catalog number
- 2005.0019.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Baseball Cap
- Location
- Currently not on view
- worn
- Giuliani, Rudy
- ID Number
- 2002.0240.01
- accession number
- 2002.0240
- catalog number
- 2002.0240.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Flight 93 Seat Belt Fragment
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2004.0142.18
- accession number
- 2004.0142
- catalog number
- 2004.0142.18
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Pentagon column reinforcement bar
- Description
- Description: This piece of coiled reinforcement bar from a concrete building column was recovered from the wreckage of the Pentagon.
- Context: The Pentagon, completed in 1943 under the urgencies of World War II, was built to provide a central headquarters for an expanded U.S. military. On September 11, hijackers crashed an American Airlines Boeing 757 airliner into the portion of the Pentagon that recently had been reinforced as part of a building renovation and counterterrorism effort. The plane impacted just outside the building and slid nearly halfway through it. It totally destroyed a section of the first two floors of the five-story building. The heavily damaged upper floors initially held but, with an intense fire raging, soon collapsed. Many experts credit the use of coiled reinforcement in the columns (now common practice in earthquake regions) for making the Pentagon as resilient as it was and allowing the upper floors to survive long enough for some of the workers to escape.
- Location
- Currently on loan
- ID Number
- 2002.0289.02
- accession number
- 2002.0289
- catalog number
- 2002.0289.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
bolt, truck light panel
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2002.0055.03.01
- catalog number
- 2002.0055.03.01
- accession number
- 2002.0055
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Tiffany September 11th NYSE medallion
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- circa October 2001-November 2001
- c. October 2001 to November 2001
- maker
- Tiffany & Co.
- ID Number
- 2009.0196.01
- accession number
- 2009.0196
- catalog number
- 2009.0196.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Windows On The World Menu
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 2001
- maker
- Glaser, Milton
- ID Number
- 2004.0300.02
- accession number
- 2004.0300
- catalog number
- 2004.0300.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Clothing from New York City mayor
- Description
- On the morning of September 11, lame duck Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was watching the progress of the New York City primary election. Having lost popularity in a public split from his wife, and fighting prostate cancer, Giuliani was ready to step out of the limelight. Instead, the events of the day served to rocket him to the pinnacle of visibility. Arriving at the World Trade Center just after the second plane hit, Giuliani remained at the center of the crisis for the next sixteen hours. He held press briefings, visited hospitals, comforted families, and returned repeatedly to the attack scene. In the following weeks, wearing a succession of trademark caps, he inspired the city and the nation with messages of compassion, resolve, and resilience.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1990s
- user
- Giuliani, Rudy
- maker
- Antier Uniform Company
- ID Number
- 2003.0258.03
- accession number
- 2002.0258
- catalog number
- 2002.0258.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Locator Map from the Pentagon
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2002.3083.01
- nonaccession number
- 2002.3083
- catalog number
- 2002.3083.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
blouse
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2019.0310.02
- catalog number
- 2019.0310.02
- accession number
- 2019.0310
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Original Federal Air Marshal's Badge
- Location
- Currently not on view
- user
- Federal Air Marshal Service
- maker
- V. H. Blackinton & Co., Inc.
- ID Number
- 2011.0161.07
- catalog number
- 2011.0161.07
- accession number
- 2011.0161
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
jacket
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2019.0310.01
- catalog number
- 2019.0310.01
- accession number
- 2019.0310
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ironworker's Tape Measure
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2002.0054.08
- catalog number
- 2002.0054.08
- accession number
- 2002.0054
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
brush, plastic
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2012.3069.12
- nonaccession number
- 2012.3069
- catalog number
- 2012.3069.12
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Flight 93 Airplane Flight Attendant Call Button
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2004.0142.07
- accession number
- 2004.0142
- catalog number
- 2004.0142.07
- 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
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