Envy Not The 9/11 Curator

As national tragedies go, the 9/11 terrorist attacks stand out for the visual images left in the minds of everyone who watched the horror unfold, either in person or on television, so the idea of creating a museum to memorialize some of the objects found in the wreckage of the World Trade Center was a natural. But what objects should make the cut? “At the beginning, with memories so fresh and personal and abundant, the most difficult curatorial choices will have to be made. If the museum were to draw on nothing more than the artifacts… that are now stored in Hangar 17 at Kennedy International Airport, it would have to winnow the collection by about 20 percent just to fit in the designated space.”