This poignant selection of artifacts—and their stories—from September 11 provides an official, lasting record of that day’s experience. In both text and photography, the story of September 11 is told through a selection of powerfully moving artifacts from the 9/11 museum’s collection that serve as touchstones to the day and its aftermath. From crushed FDNY trucks to the steel that was pierced as planes struck the Twin Towers, from victims’ property pulled from the wreckage and returned to families (who later donated the property to the museum) to spontaneous memorials collected from around Ground Zero, the array of objects tell complex and often surprising stories. Poignant artifacts as monumental as the Vesey Street staircase—which offered an escape for thousands fleeing the towers—and as intimate as a loved one’s wedding band or last recorded phone message are selected to illuminate people’s experiences during and after September 11, 2001, and February 26, 1993.
