Swancey's Travels

Above image of the memorial at night

So where do I start with the reactions and thoughts on today’s visit.  Starting on the outside was a great way to take in the peace, quiet, and memorial feel of the space before entering the museum area. 

Now it’s time to unpack my ideas and thoughts. So first off I am extremely curious about so many elements that we saw and did not see during our visit. I’m going to start with an item that I thought was there but turns out after a little post-visit research that it’s in the subway. The item was the preserved doors of the subway station from September 11th. But this search and information leads to a curious story about staff education, as I asked a gentleman on staff, as I was leaving, and he very quickly said they were removed.  Did he know? Or were we talking about two separate things? 

Image of the preserved subway doors. Borrowed from untapped New York.

The other element I was curious about is the storage of artifacts, now I know that regular museum visitors are not supposed to know about the items but my curiosity was struck based on being underground and a memorial site. Does the storage go further underground or is it completely off-site; this would also not seem appropriate or a good collections management policy in taking the collection away from its home. 

Next, moving on to thoughts on the physical space and design. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed in any of those areas. The vast open areas created an empty alone feeling to the filtering areas of congestion at the opening. It was darker in the area and filled with people; which for me created this feeling of funneling into areas and imagining the workers of the World Trade Center trying to leave the buildings on 9/11. This influenced the idea of do younger audiences and other visitors feel the same or was it a personal feeling for me. Staying later than the group added an additional change in the space as there were fewer people and more interaction between visitors.  

It was a pleasure meeting Ian Keeting from the September 11th memorial along with Jan, Chris, and Megan and I would have loved to speak with them further and ask many other questions. Chris and Megan could have answered the questions about the storage of the collections.  

Pictured are the Slurry Wall and the Last Column in the open space of the exhibit area.