As the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks nears, there will be gatherings at the National September 11 Memorial in New York City, at the Pentagon Memorial in Washington, D.C., and at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa.
Many museums around the country also are planning exhibits and activities that give the public an opportunity to remember and reflect on the events of that fateful day. Here are a few places to visit:
Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History

Hugh Talman/Courtesy of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Left behind by Lisa Lefler, this briefcase was found amid the debris at the World Trade Center and returned to her.
In "September 11: Remembrance and Reflection," the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., will offer an intimate look at more than 50 objects collected at the three sites — New York, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa.
The objects, which include airplane fragments, a door from a crushed fire truck and objects recovered from offices, will be set out on open tables, not locked in glass cases, and will be on display for just nine days, from Sept. 3 through Sept. 11. Admission: free.
Newseum

Sarah Mercier / Newseum/Courtesy FBI Tour
Hiking boots worn by convicted "shoe bomber" Richard Reid in December 2001.
At Washington, D.C.’s Newseum, a museum dedicated to the story of how news is made and reported, the 10th anniversary of 9/11 is being marked with special programs and with free admission on Sept. 10 and 11.
The Newseum’s 9/11 Gallery, which opened in 2008, includes a moving video about journalists covering the attack, a 31-foot section of the broadcast antenna that sat on top of the World Trade Center’s North Tower and a twisted piece of the fuselage of Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pa. To update the exhibit, the Newseum has added 60 new artifacts from the FBI, including engine parts and landing gear from the planes that hit the World Trade Center and the hiking boots laced with explosives that convicted “shoe bomber” Richard Reid tried to ignite during a flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001.
Chicago’s Field Museum

Nicola McClean
The man wearing these shoes was knocked out of them by the force of the blast coming up from the Wall Street Station during the collapse of one of the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001.
From Sept. 2 through Jan. 1, 2012, Chicago’s Field Museum is displaying "Ground Zero 360˚," an exhibit that tells the story of Sept. 11 through large-scale photographs, original police radio calls and artifacts from the World Trade Center.
“Appropriately,” says museum spokesperson Nancy O’Shea, “the exhibition is in our Marae Gallery, which takes its name from the Maori word for a clearing in front of a meeting house where people speak their minds and honor the deceased.”
The Penn Museum

On loan from the National September 11 Memorial Museum
This mangled computer keyboard was recovered at Ground Zero.
In Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology (the Penn Museum), is marking the 9/11 milestone with an exhibition that includes 15 objects recovered at the site of Ground Zero. Included in the "Excavating Ground Zero: Fragments from 9/11" exhibit are a pair of broken eyeglasses, glass from the Twin Towers, visitor badges and a mangled, almost incinerated, computer keyboard.
“As archeologists we deal with the forgotten things of the past and, as a rule, we look at those objects in a rather detached way,” said Richard Hodges, Williams Director of the Penn Museum. “Seeing these [9/11] objects of everyday character in this highly charged historical context will be quite meaningful, even to students from our university who may have been just 10 years old, or younger, when 9/11 took place.”
The exhibit is on display now through Nov. 6. Museum admission is by donation on Sept. 11.
Related stories
- Sept. 11 changed everything - about air travel
- PhotoBlog: Newseum exhibit marks 10th anniversary of Sept. 11
- Airport security: You ain't seen nothing yet
- Timeline: The evolution of airport security
- Tell your story: How did 9/11 change you?
Find more by Harriet Baskas on StuckatTheAirport.com and follow her on Twitter.


No
The museums of 9.11.01 artifacts is a good idea as it will show what happened on 9.11.01 and how far we come since then and how far we will continue to fight on against those who attacked the United States.
You mean how far we went backwards
I'm still so angry at what happened on 9/11, I could just scream!
And the irony is: that is my birthday.
It was bound to be somebody's birthday.
I lost a very dear and close person to me on 911. She was the best of the best...There is not enough words to describe the good in her and what she brought to the world. Unfortunately on 9/11 the day of her death it is also her brothers birthday. I miss you Alicia Titus and you will forever be in my heart.
Rest in peace, Alicia. Although I didn't know you, I will not forget the loving tribute made here by your "best friend."
How far we have come?
I don't think so. Its more like how far we have fallen.
I don't call.....
American's at each other's throats over fiscal issues
or politician's taking advantage of their heated emotions for political gain
or members of congress blatantly disrespecting the office of the president
or corporate oligarchs openly infiltrating the very fabric of our government
or some American's willingness to throw their own grandmothers under the bus to save a few tax dollars
..... progress.
bin Laden (along with much of the world) is laughing at us from his watery grave. The final chapter of his plan for America. Just as he foretold. An event that should have elevated the American people, and displayed our true grit as a nation before the eyes of the world, has very clearly had the completely opposite effect.
And we have fallen quite far.
Allen: it pains me to agree with you - how far we have fallen, and I lay a good portion of the blame at the feet of those on the hill, our leaders, who should have, as we have in the past expected them to do, taken the high ground - be the leaders that we gave up our precious vote for -- instead, they bicker, haggle, infight, back bite, act like children on the playground fighting over who's ball it is - I hang my head in shame. I still believe that we can get to the high ground, that we can embrace the gold standard - if only our leaders reflected those values. Yes, BinLaden and his ilk are laughing at us, we are fractured and the rifts continue to grow exponentially - it is to weep. But I refuse to give up hope for that better America
It was designed by the Founders to work that way Kate, as ugly as the process may get at times.
Apparently, Harriet Baskas, You forgot one of the best displays opened today in upstate Rochester, NY! Thanks for that coverage!
I remember vividly a photo from the first days, a picture of a jagged fragment of a wall, pierced by rectangular spaces, perhaps from windows. It struck me as a fragment that should have been preserved in situ.
Because we just haven't been told enough to remember that day in the last 10 years. Meanwhile 300,000 people have died in car accidents since then and no one cares.
You are right, I don't care.
Because accidents are just that: accidents. What happened on 9/11 was the murder of thousands of American civilians, and I don't believe we should ever forget. Most of us alive and old enough to know what was going on never will forget.
That I do care about Aimee, thank you. I will never forget either. Had a friend pass away in the WTC.
Unreal. This is America.
If that accident just happened to be a car hitting you, you may not be so flippant.
I wouldn't expect a memorial. It was, as you say an "ACCIDENT". Do the two differences escape you? Again, I don't care. Careful crossing the street.
There is also a photographic exhibit on display at Calumet photographic in NYC that will have on display images photographed by John Botte who is a former NYPD police officer and detective who took some of the most haunting images of the 9/11 disaster at Ground Zero.
For us in the midwest who can't afford to go and see all this.....
The Field Museum in Chicago has a 911 exhibtion running until the end of the year.(2011)
http://fieldmuseum.org/happening/exhibits/ground-zero-360%C2%B0-0
Thanks for that comment, Rick. I have always thought that would have been the most powerful memorial.
We need to remember that it was George Bush responsible when this tragedy occured he let this happen Yes we need to remenber Sept 11and made prayer that is all.
ignorant comment, and very stupid
Actually it was a lefty plot to discredit George Bush. Masterminded by Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chris Dodd, and Barney Fwank.
This whole memorial is a disgrace. Why couldn't they just make a nice park with a small memorial? Do people really think that in a hundred years people will care about September 11th? Yes, it was a day of extreme tragedy, but a memorial just tells terrorists how much they hurt us and will only embolden them in the future. Enough with all of the memorials.
a park with a small memorial, how are you supposed to profit off that?
No profit at all, this was construted at great expense
Sure, it was Bush's fault the tow el head whackos decided to start a war. Get a life, d-bag.
Nope, I am done with worshipping at the alter of 9/11. I will keep my TV OFF that day just as I do on April 19 when we do the same thing here in Oklahoma City with the federal building bombing. For some reason there are some people who want us to continue to wallow in the helplesness of those two days. We can move on without forgetting any of it.
since they can display the plastic id's and personal items that servived the plane crashes. perhaps they could return the armored fireproof flight recorders that the fbi has...
.
screw you guys im going home. Yellow cake!
I hereby officially promote to the masses via the internet, a message of individual freedom and peace.
And now I wait.
It's worse for brown people who's birthday is on that day.
U-S-A U-S-A U-S-A
Hey Vador, have some more of Uncle Sam's kool-aid.
"They actually passed a new law that gives us (NIST) the authority, a more comprehensive authority to carry out this kind of building and fire safety investigation" –This is a quote from S. Shyam Sunder of National Institute of Standards and Technology regarding its private data and investigation of the destruction of the WTC towers on 9/11.
Putting Mr. Sunder's statement in perspective, this is an admission that NIST gave itself the permission to violate the basic principles of the Scientific Method! Unfortunately for Mr. Sunder and NIST, in science one cannot just declare that one's scientific results don't need to abide by the Scientific Method. This striking reality has allowed the cover-up of arguably the greatest crime scene on American soil.
Here we are, ten years after 9/11 and the thing that astounds me the most is the decision that the mass media and politicians made to collectively ignore, down-play, obscure and even demonize the most basic scientific reproducible evidence that shows that 3 WTC towers were destroyed by controlled demolition; choosing to side instead with NIST's computer model analysis that is not based on reproducible science but on secret computer model data.
The destruction of WTC 1, 2 and 7 (not hit by a plane) shows in every case: sudden, symmetric, sequential, rapid and freefall destruction of all 3 towers with superheated temperatures confirmed with physical, instrumental, photographic and even testimonial evidence.
The evidence that irrefutably disproves the Official story has mounted 'Like a Mountain' 10 years later yet the majority of the media continues to ignore it. Please take a stand and consider the evidence that over 1500 Architects and Engineers firmly stand behind. Go to http://AE911Truth.org and review the evidence for yourself. The experts have spoken!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZEvA8BCoBw&feature=player_embedded
Bernie
Yur nutz Bernie:
You're trying to tell us these building were systematically prepared for demolition with all the attendant activity, dust, and noise and nobody said anything about it, and that the airplanes magically hit the building in just the right spot. Or that the collapses just happened to start where the airplanes hit. LOL
Oh, and by the way, this was not freefall. The heat from the Jet fuel fires weakened the interior suppoft structure of the these very badly designed buildings and once one floor gave way the rest pancaked downward. Pretty simple physics which obviously you know nothing about.
And another thing for intellectually challenged...with the speeds and forces involved and considering the masses of the airplanes, very little recognisable wreckage is left, but wreckage has been found at all the locations. Sorry to burst your bubble, bubba.
The terrorists got exactly what they wanted, including a professionally built museum permanently displaying all of the carnage. A super-mosque is being planned to open just down the street, resembling some hideous glittered structure you might see in Las Vegas. Hallelujah. What a country.
United we stand, Divided we fall! When we stop fighting amongst ourselves, then we can put this country back together.
I am not much on politics, I don't use big words, but I do have enough common sense to watch and listen to what's going on around me. All I see and hear is bickering, fighting and pointing fingers. It's time to get past it and start working together for a solution.
Some statements posted here are a perfect example of what a great Country we live in, because we let people who actually believe that our Government would have blown up the twin towers and killed thousands of people and still let these type of people live here. Didn't you morons see the events happen on that horrible day? Get a life! God bless those soles lost on that day and God bless our troops who are fighting to prevent this from happening again.
You bet Dave.. I would believe they would commit treason in their own country, to line their own pockets.
Money has the ultimate power in our country. America means nothing to politics, only greed. Tell me why an injured soldier comes home to a $600 paycheck a month for the rest of his life, but a senator spends one year in office, and is set for life ?
I wonder what the people do that DO NOT think it was an inside job. I used to be one of them. Then I started researching, (which by the way) is part of MY job. What I found that I CANNOT argue, is there is more evidence to support the so called clowns as you call them, than there is to support the (if you really look at it) ridiculous story we where fed. Don't look at the plane, don't listen to witnesses or whatever. Just go over the news for the next couple of years after 9/11. The FACT that Bush and the rest had to eat their words about NO ONE could have ever predicted that they would take planes and fly them into buildings. But, we all know he had to change his tune on that when it got too hot. He would also later change his tune on allot of things when too many people including the victims families thought it did not add up and there where too many questions. And even beyond all that and more I wont go into because there is too much, and I also doubt those that feel very comfortable swallowing what they have been fed, will even bother to research anything. It is much easier to sit back and just catch a bit of news here and there, or latch onto only the so called crazy parts of the conspiracy theories while disregarding the rest. Much like people do with the bible. They pick out a verse or paragraph that works for them and that's what they run with. Which is of course the sort of thing the gonvernment knew people would do. But all aside, Just read one thing. All you have to read is the words from the White House itself. Read the 9/11 commission. Although it is sad, but I actually came across people that didn't even know what it was. Try looking it up. It is a very interesting read from the mouths themselves. Then see how you feel.
Finally someone who is awake in our country!! /cheers Sheila. Problem is, no one READS. They spend too much time on the idiot box believing the bull@!$%# they are fed. I guess they think all politicians send their sons and daughters to the military.