Children’s 9/11 Tributes on Display at Flight 93 Memorial

Children’s 9/11 Tributes on Display at Flight 93 Memorial

The Learning Center at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, is seen on a partly sunny day.
The Learning Center is a multipurpose building, where the exhibit “Through Their Eyes” is on display. Photo courtesy of NPS/Brenda Schwartz.

Legos locking to form a plane, small toy firetrucks, stuffed animals and other tributes by children are on display at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., one of the three attack sites on Sept. 11.

The temporary exhibition “Through Their Eyes” displays these tributes and more that were left behind near or on a fence at a temporary memorial soon after the 2001 attacks.

“Children want to know that their world is safe – that there are helpers to protect them and their families,” Barbara Black, memorial curator and exhibit creator, said in an AP report. “But they are also empathetic and compassionate when others are suffering.”

The passengers of hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 are revered as heroes for fighting back against the terrorists, who crashed the plane into a field. Killed were 40 crew members and passengers, including Todd Beamer, whose last reported words were “let’s roll” as he and other passengers tried to overpower the hijackers. Beamer’s watch, which has the number 11 frozen on the date indicator, is on display in the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed in New York City, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville on 9/11.

The exhibit is open between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays this month. For more information, visit the National Park Service’s website.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

Flight 93 Memorial Finalizing Oral Histories

Flight 93 Memorial Finalizing Oral Histories

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Bronze panels honoring the victims of Flight 93 at the National September 11 Memorial. (Amy Dreher photo)

Oral historians at the Flight 93 Memorial in Somerset County, Pa., are in the process of transcribing more than 780 interviews that have been recorded to create a documentation collection for research and education that compliments exhibits at the planned Flight 93 Memorial, according to Essential Public Radio 90.5 in Pittsburg.

The oral histories include stories from those who were first on the scene, journalists covering the disaster, and the family members who received calls from loved ones as Flight 93 went down in a field in Shanksville.

Hear a sampling of oral histories that are part of the National September 11 Memorial Museum’s collection here.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff 

9/11 Memorial Museum Provides Educators Teaching Tools Through Webinar

9/11 Memorial Museum Provides Educators Teaching Tools Through Webinar

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The National September 11 Memorial Museum has helped organize the “September 11: Teaching Contemporary” online conference, providing educators nationwide tools to teach 9/11 in their classrooms.

The two-day webinar on Aug. 3 and Aug. 4 was jointly organized by the museum, the Smithsonian and the Flight 93 and Pentagon memorials. It included eight sessions that touched on numerous themes, including using literature as entry points for younger children and employing oral histories as teaching tools.

The museum’s director of education, Cliff Chanin, answered questions and provided insight into the design and development of the museum, which opens in 2012 at the World Trade Center site.    

I focused my session on framing memorials as storytellers, as tangible manifestations of ideas held by the memorial designers and the larger public. I thought it would be interesting to treat memorials as objects, like you would a painting in an art museum. That is, what can we learn just by looking at a memorial’s design?  Because 9/11 is often so difficult to discuss, memorials can offer an age-appropriate entry point for educators to discuss the attacks, while also tying them to other memorialized events in history.

It was a wonderful two days. The entire program can be reviewed here.  In addition, visit our website to download further resources for teaching 9/11 in the classroom.

By Noah Rauch, Manager of School and Family Programs for 9/11 Memorial Museum

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