This checkpoint floor mat was designed and used by the TSA in 2002 to help manage the large number of people now being put through stricter and more thorough screenings. It helped travelers know where to stand while being wanded or patted down.
Sign used at checkpoints at Grand Forks International Airport in North Dakota in 2002 that advises passengers that fireworks are prohibited on the commercial flights and will be confiscated by TSA screeners. It reads "Warning! Fireworks Forbidden."
This uniform shirt was worn by security screener Terry Briggs at Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI). Terry Briggs joined TSA in March 2002 as one of the first three-hundred federal security screeners to be hired, trained, and deployed by the agency.
This computer keyboard, serial number AP42436B26FA, was part of a collection of equipment and possessions recovered from the wreckage of the Pentagon after the September 11 attack.
This twisted and torn piece of metal fuselage is painted gray with a portion of a white letter "R" from the airline name "United Airlines" painted on it. Many bolt holes are visible on the side of the fuselage. The reverse side is yellow and green, painted by the recovery team to denote that the metal came from one of the planes.
This seat belt was salvaged from the wreckage of United Flight 93 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. The seat belt is made of dark fabric. United 93 was the only flight that did not reach its intended target, thanks to the courageous attempt of the passengers to reclaim control of the plane from the hijackers.
Description: This grill scraper was used by kitchen worker Leocio Luis-Perguero at the Windows on the World restaurant in the World Trade Center.
Context: Innovation is part of all work. Wanting a better grease scraper, Leocio Luis-Perguero adapted a commercially available paint scraper to his job in the kitchen of the Windows on the World restaurant. On September 10 he had taken the scraper home to resharpen it. Windows on the World, located on the 107th floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center, had a staff of about 450 workers. On the morning of September 11, over 70 people who were at work were trapped by the attack, and died when the building collapsed.
This white, crescent-shaped salad plate has a starry blue sky and a thin, yellow crescent moon baked into the surface. This plate was part of the collection of dinnerware used in the "Windows on the World" restaurant located on the 107th floor of Tower 1 of the World Trade Center. “Windows on the World” was a popular destination with building occupants, tourists, and city residents. The china survived because the owner of the restaurant had taken the china home for a private function.
Description: Penny Elgas built a patriotic box to preserve this piece of American Airlines Flight 77, the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
Context: Driving on a highway adjacent to the Pentagon on the morning of September 11, Penny Elgas stopped as she saw a passenger jet descend, clip a light pole near her, and then crash into the Pentagon. Arriving home, Elgas found this plane fragment in the back seat of her car (she theorizes that it dropped through the open sunroof). Feeling that it was her patriotic duty to preserve the fragment as a relic, she crafted a special box and lined it with red, white, and blue material.
These floor signs hung on the exterior of the elevator door frames in the World Trade Center. The 105th Floor indicator is rectangular and painted black with the number and Braille equivalent in raised silver. It was recovered from the debris at the Staten Island recovery site at Fresh Kills.