Smithsonian September 11: Remembrance and Reflection

The Smithsonian Museum is to exhibit a selection of objects found in the ruins of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon after the 9/11 attacks.

Among them is a briefcase left on the 103rd floor by a survivor who fled as the planes hit the Twin Towers. More than 50 objects collected after the attacks, which claimed 3,000 lives, will be displayed September 3 to 11 at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

"Ten years later, we will share some of those objects in a personal setting, providing an opportunity for visitors to speak with museum staff and to have a place to remember and reflect on what it means to be an American today," Museum Director Brent D. Glass said in a statement.

Visitors to the collection, amassed by the museum in 2002 after Congress designated it the official repository, will see aircraft fragments, a wall map from the Pentagon, a mangled fire truck door, as well as photographs and documents.

The objects were collected from the three crash sites of al-Qaeda's suicide attacks - the Pentagon, the World Trade Center and a field in western Pennsylvania. They will be preserved permanently at the museum so future generations can "comprehend the horrific events, their roots and their long-term consequences," according to information from the museum.