Case
- Description
- Small black leather case with snap enclosure and a personal business card for Paul Gunther taped to the front. "WTC 2001 | FRESH KILLS" is written on the business card in black marker. Inside the case is a recovered key, slightly bent.
- Historical Notes
-
As of September 11, 2001, Paul Gunther was on staff at the New-York Historical Society as Director of Development. He was among the group of staff volunteers who pivoted quickly to help document the catastrophe at the World Trade Center for posterity. On several occasions, Gunther joined other New-York Historical Society colleagues on their trips to identify artifacts to add into the Society’s collection from the Staten Island Fresh Kills Landfill, where debris had been moved for deeper forensic searching and evidence-gathering.
Gunther acquired this key from Fresh Kills. The key, sheltered inside its pocket-sized container, exemplifies the phenomenon of reliquaries improvised to preserve shards and small pieces of the demolished Twin Towers.
- Accession Number: C.2024.56.1
- Dimensions: unavailable
- Source: Estate of Paul W. Gunther
- Credit Line: Gift of Joel Sanders
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