Ground zero artifact exhibit opens at Syracuse museum
The New York Remembers exhibit contains a Fire Department of New York fire battalion chief car. It opened at 10 a.m. Wednesday
Larry Leatherman remembers exactly where he was on Sept. 11. He hasn’t forgotten a single detail.
Leatherman was working as the general manager for Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in Syracuse when his assistant came in with some alarming news. A plane had just hit one of the Twin Towers in New York City.
An employee brought a TV into the assistant’s office and the colleagues watched as another passenger jet hit the second tower.
‘I was flabbergasted. No one knew what to think,’ said Leatherman, now the president of the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology.
Nearly 10 years after the terrorist attacks, the museum Leatherman heads has a couple of new artifacts from Sept. 11 that bring all of those memories back.
The museum is one of 30 sites in New York to receive Sept. 11 artifacts from the governor’s office, as part of a statewide recognition commemorating the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
The exhibit, named ‘New York Remembers,’ contains a Fire Department of New York fire battalion chief car, a subway directional sign from the station underneath the World Trade Center and a display case of smaller building fragments. The exhibit opened at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the museum, located at 500 S. Franklin St. in Armory Square.
‘It’s a great project,’ said Anthony Ortega, the museum’s executive vice president. ‘We’re glad Governor Cuomo chose us to be involved in it, and I think New York State Museum did a great job in putting this together and helping people remember the 10th anniversary — those important events that really shaped our lives.’
Each location across the state features historical items from the New York State Museum, the nation’s largest collection of objects from the World Trade Center site and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. The National September 11 Memorial and Museum is scheduled to open to the public Sept. 12. Rescue artifacts, building pieces and everyday objects found on the site are on display this week until the end of September.
Ortega said museum officials asked the New York State Museum if they can display the artifacts through January.
‘We’re hoping to keep it much longer than September, although September is going to be a time when people really want to come and remember the events of 9/11,’ he said.
The FDNY lost 343 firefighters and the chaplain Sept. 11, according to the exhibit. More than 100 FDNY vehicles, including the battalion chief car in the downtown Syracuse museum, were destroyed that day, according to the exhibit. A 30-foot timeline, filled with images from 9/11, accompanies the artifacts, following the events that unfolded from 7:59 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 11.
Before making their way up to Syracuse, the artifacts had been housed in locations such as The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and had to be cleaned by the New York State Museum, Ortega said.
‘It took a couple forklifts to bring in this battalion chief car, one on each side, and then they put it on the rollers and about eight guys rolled it over into the spot. … It’s quite mangled and it was sitting right there at ground zero for 9/11. It’s a very moving piece,’ Ortega said.
Although visitors usually have to pay the museum’s admission fee to view the exhibit, Ortega said that people can view the exhibit for free between 5 and 9 p.m. every Saturday.
Justin Sawyers, the museum’s director of marketing and communications, said the exhibit is different than what the museum is used to, which is typically science and technology showcases for children. The exhibit is separated from other noise and museum activity, to ensure visitors can have the somber and reflective attitude that it requires, Sawyers said.
‘It’s a great honor to be asked to handle and put on display such fragile artifacts,’ Sawyers said. ‘When you see them you are automatically taken back to the day where you were when the attacks happened.’
Surrounding cities such as Watertown, Rochester, Auburn, Utica, Ithaca and Binghamton were also chosen to host selected artifacts.
In Auburn, Cayuga Community College received a 16-foot high piece of aluminum sheeting from the outside of one of the World Trade Center towers and wooden railings with handwritten messages from family members whose loved ones lost their lives on 9/11, said Margaret Spillett, director of public relations and institutional communications at the community college.
‘The pieces highlight how big of an impact the attacks had and how much all of the communities around the country came together,’ Spillett said. ‘It’s very striking, you can’t help but to pause and look.’
Published on August 31, 2011 at 12:00 pm
