20 items left behind—and recovered—after September 11

One of the most significant remnants of the World Trade Center is a staircase that once connected the complex to Vesey Street, now commonly known as “the Survivors’ Staircase.” Hundreds of people used these steps to escape the towers before they collapsed, making this staircase one of the most emotionally charged pieces of concrete in American history. It is now preserved and on display at the 9/11 Memorial Museum in Lower Manhattan, where visitors can see it up close.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Robert Joseph Gschaar, 55, was working on the 92nd floor of the South Tower when the attack took place; he called his wife, Myrta, to reassure her and tell her that he would make it out safely, but he did not survive. A year after the attacks, his wallet and wedding ring were found at the site. He and Myrta had kept $2 bills throughout their 11-year marriage as a private symbol of their union—two identical bills—and this detail lives on today in the museum’s collection.

Officially designated as the “Last Column,” this 58-metric-ton steel beam was the last structural element removed from the Ground Zero site during cleanup operations on May 30, 2002. The column is covered with messages, graffiti, and other mementos and tributes, making it a deeply personal artifact even before it was officially preserved. Today, it is the centerpiece of the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s historical exhibition.

On the morning of September 11, Linda Raisch-Lopez was wearing a new pair of patent leather pumps when she arrived at her office on the 97th floor of the South Tower. After seeing flames shooting out of the North Tower, she took off her shoes and ran down the fire escape barefoot. She put them back on somewhere during her walk toward the north end of the city, and it wasn’t until she reached a pier on the Hudson that another woman pointed out that her feet were bleeding. She donated those bloodstained shoes to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, where they remain one of the most poignant artifacts in the collection.

Recovered from the rubble at Ground Zero, the Vesey Street Bible is a small, charred fragment of a holy book that fused with a piece of metal due to the extreme heat caused by the collapse. The surviving page displays the text of Matthew 5:39: “But I tell you: Do not resist an evil person. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” This artifact is now part of the permanent collection of the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

Several helmets belonging to members of the New York City Fire Department were found at the site in the months following the attacks, and the museum has at least 17 of them in its collection. One of the best-documented helmets belongs to firefighter Kevin M. Prior of Engine 252, and another to David Halderman, whose crushed helmet was found on September 12 and returned to his brother Michael. The FDNY lost 343 members on September 11, representing the greatest loss of life for a fire department in a single incident in U.S. history.

Rosemary Smith had survived the 1993 World Trade Center bombing while working as a switchboard operator for a law firm on the 57th floor of the North Tower. She had treated herself to a gold and sapphire ring both to reward herself for surviving and to motivate herself to return to work at that place, which frightened her. She had stayed behind on September 11 to forward calls to voicemail while her colleagues evacuated the building, and she was the only one from her firm who did not make it out alive. Her ring was found among her remains at the Fresh Kills landfill, then returned to her family, before being donated to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, where it is currently on display.

The large American flag found in tatters and fluttering in the wind at Ground Zero shortly after the attacks was retrieved by site manager Charlie Vitchers about a month after September 11, and it eventually became the centerpiece of a national restoration project. Over the course of several years and a tour through all 50 states, volunteers—including wounded veterans, schoolchildren, and members of Congress—sewed pieces of decommissioned American flags onto its fabric to restore it. The flag was transferred to the 9/11 Memorial Museum and put on public display in 2015.

James Francis Lynch, an officer with the Port Authority Police Department, was 47 years old and was off duty on September 11 because he was recovering from surgery, but he answered the call anyway, believing it was his duty. He did not survive. His baseball cap, bearing his department’s logo, is the only item that was recovered and stands as one of many tributes to the 37 Port Authority officers killed that day.

Sara Elizabeth Low was a 28-year-old flight attendant for American Airlines who lost her life aboard Flight 11 when it crashed into the North Tower. Her colleague and close friend, Karyn Ramsey, paid tribute to her during the memorial ceremony by pinning her own American Airlines flight attendant wings onto the lapel of Mike Low, Sara’s father. Mike Low later referred to this small silver pin as “Karyn’s wings.” The pin was subsequently donated to the 9/11 Memorial Museum in Sara’s memory.

Andrea Haberman was only 25 years old; she was about to get married and was in New York on business when she was killed on the 92nd floor of the North Tower during a business meeting at Carr Futures. Her damaged wallet, pager, phone, driver’s license, and visitor’s badge were recovered and returned to her family in 2004 during a meeting organized by the New York Police Department. Her father kept them in a drawer for seven years before the family donated them to the museum in 2011. The visitor’s badge, which features the last photo taken of her, is one of the most poignant items in the collection.

Two intersecting steel beams that had fallen into the shape of a cross were discovered by construction worker Frank Silecchia on September 13, 2001, and quickly became a landmark for workers seeking solace during the rescue operations. The cross was blessed by Franciscan friar Brian Jordan and remained at Ground Zero for years before being moved to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, where it remains a significant artifact for many visitors.

The FDNY Ladder Company 3 truck is one of the most extensively documented and moving artifacts in the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s collection. Its front cab was crushed and mangled during the collapse of the towers. All 12 members of Ladder Company 3 who responded that morning perished. The truck was lowered into the museum using a crane in July 2011, before the museum opened.

The voice messages left by the victims in the final minutes of their lives are among the most poignant artifacts preserved at the 9/11 Memorial Museum. One of the best-documented is the message that passenger Brian Sweeney left for his wife, Julie Roth, from United Airlines Flight 175 before the plane struck the South Tower. Some of these recordings have been made public, while others remain private at the request of the families involved. The museum has worked closely with the families to determine how and whether these messages would be included in the historical archives.

Around 5 p.m. on September 11, three firefighters raised an American flag above the smoldering ruins of Ground Zero, and that moment was captured by photographer Thomas E. Franklin in an image that was seen around the world. The flag came from a yacht owned by Shirley Dreifus and her late husband, Spiros Kopelakis, which had been moored at the World Financial Center, and it disappeared shortly after the photo was taken. Thirteen years later, in 2014, the flag was recovered, and after a forensic investigation confirmed its authenticity, it was donated to the 9/11 Memorial Museum by Dreifus and the insurance company Chubb, where it was displayed on the 15th anniversary in 2016.

Sean Rooney was a vice president at Aon Corp. He died on the 105th floor of the South Tower, but his family wanted people to remember him not for his job title, but for who he truly was: an amateur carpenter, a handyman, and a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. His sister-in-law, Margot Eckert, donated his square, screwdriver, pry bar, and tool belt to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, describing this collection of carpentry tools as the perfect representation of who he was. His wife, Beverly Eckert, who survived him, died in a plane crash in 2009 while on her way to Rooney High School in Buffalo to present a scholarship in his honor.

The Callery pear tree that stood in the World Trade Center plaza was severely damaged during the attacks; its roots were torn up and its branches were burned and broken. It was discovered by rescue workers in the rubble in October 2001. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation took it in, cared for it for several years, and replanted it at the memorial site in 2010, where it now stands as the “surviving tree.” Each year, the memorial distributes saplings grown from this tree to communities across the country that have themselves experienced tragedies.

Robert Chin loved softball and played for his employer, Fiduciary Trust International. When he hit his first base hit, his coworkers signed the ball and gave it to him as a keepsake. Many of those same coworkers also perished on September 11. Robert Chin was killed in the attacks, and his family donated the autographed ball to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, where it is part of a collection of personal items that offer a glimpse into people’s lives outside the office. The names of Pedro Francisco Checo and Ruben Esquilin Jr., two of Robert Chin’s colleagues who also perished that day, are among those inscribed on the ball.

Fritz Koenig’s large bronze sculpture, known as “The Sphere,” once stood in the World Trade Center plaza as a symbol of world peace. It was recovered from the rubble after the attacks, heavily damaged but still largely intact. The sculpture was moved to Battery Park, where it was temporarily displayed as a memorial, and then transferred in 2017 to its permanent location in Liberty Park at the 9/11 Memorial Plaza. The dents and cracks on its surface were left as they were, a deliberate choice to honor what the work has come to represent.

On the evening of September 18, 2001, Detective Steve Steo of the New York Police Department rappelled down into a deep chasm at Ground Zero, searching for two of his close friends, Joseph Vigiano of the New York Police Department and his older brother, John Vigiano, a firefighter with the FDNY—both of whom were reported missing and were later confirmed dead. As he made his way through the rubble, a sparkling and relatively intact Christmas ornament caught his eye; it depicted the World Trade Center against a midnight-blue sky studded with stars, with the words “Peace on Earth” printed on the back. Steo kept this memento for years before donating it to the 9/11 Memorial Museum in memory of Joseph Vigiano. Today, it is one of the most understated yet poignant objects in the collection.