Suit Coat
- Description
- Light blue woman's suit coat with white piping and white buttons. The coat is covered in a layer of fine dust.
- Historical Notes
- TV journalist Sofía Lachapelle reported on the September 11, 2001 attacks at the World Trade Center for Univision, an American Spanish-language broadcast television network. Originally scheduled to interview New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani about the day’s primary election, Lachapelle; her cameraman, Humberto Acosta; and the driver of their satellite news truck, Orestes Telles, were reassigned by the network to report from the scene of the disaster. NYPD-issued press credentials identified Lachapelle and her team as members of the media covering breaking news and allowed them to gain access to the area. Working in the vicinity of the South Tower, Lachapelle and Acosta fled to the truck as the building collapsed, reporting and filming as they ran from the cloud of dust and debris. Before resuming her reporting, Lachapelle was examined in a nearby ambulance but refused further medical attention to allow responders to treat those in greater need of assistance. The team was again forced to seek shelter when the North Tower began to collapse. They found temporary refuge in a belowground parking garage. The three-member news crew remained on site for many hours, continuing to report on what they were observing. Reporting from Ground Zero remained a key part of Lachapelle's work for the next few months.
Curator's Comment
In 2015, Sofía Lachapelle recorded an oral history in which she reflected upon her decision to save the dust-covered jacket she wore on 9/11 and the effects that reporting from Ground Zero have had on her health and well-being. She recalled that, when she arrived home many hours after starting her workday on 9/11, she did not know what to do with the clothes she had been wearing. She was concerned that the dust covering her jacket might contain microscopic particles of human remains. Lachappelle ultimately discarded most of what she had been wearing but placed the jacket in a plastic bag. Six months later, in March 2002, Lachappelle moved to the Dominican Republic, where she had been born and where she hoped to find a more tranquil environment to tend to her physical and mental health. She brought the jacket with her as a memento of her career and thought that her family might one day be interested in learning more about her experience that day—and that they might want to see the jacket. As time passed, she began to see herself as the guardian, not the owner, of the jacket and took care to protect it from further damage.
Lachapelle returned to the United States in 2005. She moved to Miami, Florida, where she resumed her career in television journalism, but left the jacket with her father in the Dominican Republic for safekeeping. Reassessing her thinking about the jacket as well as the credentials and microphone flag she had used on 9/11, Lachappelle decided to offer them to the 9/11 Museum as symbols of her work, professionalism, and survival.
Lachapelle returned to the United States in 2005. She moved to Miami, Florida, where she resumed her career in television journalism, but left the jacket with her father in the Dominican Republic for safekeeping. Reassessing her thinking about the jacket as well as the credentials and microphone flag she had used on 9/11, Lachappelle decided to offer them to the 9/11 Museum as symbols of her work, professionalism, and survival.
- Accession Number: C.2016.154.1
- Dimensions: 24 in X 18.5 in X 1 in
- Dimensions (Metric): 60.96 cm X 46.99 cm X 2.54 cm
- Source: Sofía Lachapelle
- Credit Line: Gift of Sofía Lachapelle
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