“Fragments from 9/11” on Display
Everyday items recovered from Ground Zero are on display at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology & Anthropology. “In this case, the small things are not really small because they are mixed up in our own personal reflections of what happened that day,” says Williams Director of the Penn Museum Richard Hodges, who says the goal is to draw attention to the small items that came from the Ground Zero excavations, rather than the monumentality of the towers themselves.
A charred computer keyboard is just one of the items included in "Excavating Ground Zero: Fragments from 9/11."
The exhibit features 15 small, but poignant objects. “Perhaps the most telling item is a keyboard from a computer that’s partially burnt and just barely recognizable,” Hodges says. Other objects on display include paperwork, eyeglasses, visitors’ badges and more. “Minor objects that in themselves tell you nothing, but in the context of this story – as is often the case in archeology – tell you a great deal.”
In this particular case, those objects harbor an enormously emotional experience. They’re on display at the Penn Museum through November 6th. The exhibit also invites visitors to share their own memories of 9/11. Several special events are also planned at the Penn Museum on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
Once “Excavating Ground Zero: Fragments of 9/11” closes at the Penn Museum, the items will be returned to the National September 11th Memorial Museum collection.
