For the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the National Museum of American History has assembled an exhibition of more than 50 objects recovered from wreckage at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. These objects, which under any other circumstances would be regarded as entirely prosaic, help to convey the human dimensions of the tragedy of that day. For one week, the objects will be displayed on open tables at the Museum, which is on the Mall at Constitution Avenue and 14th Street, N.W. Dana Milbank has a piece about the exhibit in Sunday's Washington Post. In the same issue, Marc Fisher writes about the how the Pentagon attack has been completely overshadowed not only by the images of Ground Zero but even by the extended memorialization controversy. Meanwhile, Anne Applebaum considers the appalling cost of the War on Terror pursued in response to the attacks. It is my understanding that after this week the artifacts will become part of the permanent collection of the Museum, which means that the incoming class of Autumn 2011 Glenn Fellows will be able to see them under glass.
September 7 correction: I went to see the show today. It's very moving, in part because the items are spread out on tables quite informally, along with minimalist identifying labels, like the objects for sale at a church bazaar. When the show closes on September 11, they will be sent for permanent storage to New York. So it's now or never for Washingtonians.
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