9-11 artifacts tell deadly day’s tale

TACOMA – If there are still tears to shed for those lost on Sept. 11, 2001, this is a good place to shed them.

The Smithsonian Institute exhibit, “September 11: Bearing Witness to History,” at the Washington State History Museum offers a time for reflection about the day when four hijacked airplanes killed about 3,000 people in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.

The exhibit presents artifacts that spark discussion, often through the element of surprise, such as a crushed file cabinet that was in Ben and Jerry’s at the World Trade Center.

“People don’t expect to see a cross between a basketball and a clamshell,” said Redmond Barnett, head of the museum’s exhibition department.

“They don’t expect to see a Squeegee handle used (by trapped men) to cut their way out of an elevator shaft, or a bird’s nest still on a piece of Pentagon limestone.”

Artifacts include airplane fragments found in the wreckage of the World Trade Center and the desk telephone on which Ted Olson received calls from his wife, Barbara Olson, a passenger on Flight 77.

The largest exhibit is a chunk of Pentagon limestone that’s about 7 feet long and weighs 945 pounds; the smallest is a melted desk ornament from the Pentagon.

Smithsonian curators faced a major hurdle with “September 11.”

“The biggest challenge they had was how to keep the focus on the events of the day and not try to explain things. Historians always want to explain how something happened,” Barnett said.

“What the curators tried to do, and almost succeeded, was to ignore the question, ‘Why did this happen? What could the U.S. government have done differently?’

“They took the subtitle, ‘Bearing Witness to History,’ very seriously. It was hard for them. It was extremely difficult because it went against the grain of historians.”

Visitors to the exhibit start in a room with large banners showing the faces of people reacting to the tragedy.

Most of the exhibits are in one large room; an ABC video is in a side room.

“There have been more parents with their children than I had expected,” Barnett said.

“They’re looking at everything, sometimes with an arm around a child’s shoulder, and reading an unusually large proportion of the text. It’s remarkable to watch the attentiveness as they go through galleries.”

Visitors can share their reactions to the exhibit, which opened Jan. 30, on comment cards.

The comments are “absolutely fascinating. They’re really telling us what the Smithsonian curators hoped would happen: what 9-11 means to them,” Barnett said.

“Sometimes they’re very poignant, about lost relatives or friends, or stories that we didn’t see reported in the newspaper. They’re not very political, very few ‘Thank God for President Bush’ or ‘Why did President Bush allow this to happen?’” he said.

Even though Barnett and others had worked many hours with the exhibit, they were not always able to maintain a professional separation from the event.

“There was a point when I was caught up in it, in remembering the day. One of my colleagues said when he put in the piece of limestone from the Pentagon, everything came together in remembrance. Most of us on the installation crew had moments like that.”

Smithsonian photo by Richard Strauss

This small American flag was recovered from World Trade Center debris at the Fresh Kills Landfill.

Smithsonian photo by Hugh Talman

Two stairwell floor signs from the World Trade Center are known to have survived. This sign, from the 102nd floor, was recovered from ground zero.

Smithsonian photo by Richard Strauss

This helmet was worn by Battalion Chief Joseph Pfeifer, the first fire chief to arrive at the WTC on Sept. 11, 2001.

“September 11: Bearing Witness to History”

An exhibition from the Smithsonian Institute

When: Through April 24

Where: Washington State History Museum, 1911 Pacific Ave., Tacoma

Museum hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday; 12-5 p.m. Sunday.

Admission: $7 adults, $6.50 age 60 and older, $5 ages 6 to 17, $5 military with ID, age 5 and under free; free admission 5-8 p.m. Thursday.