Key, Recovered
- Description
- Recovered metal key, slightly bent. The silver-colored key has a small amount of dust stuck in the key threads. Imprinted on one side of the key is the number "463483," and on its reverse, engraved text reads: "WORLD | TRADE CENTER | DO NOT | DUPLICATE."
- 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.2024.56.1.1
- Dimensions: unavailable
- Source: Estate of Paul W. Gunther
- Credit Line: Gift of Joel Sanders
All materials made publicly available by the 9/11 Memorial & Museum on this site are intended for research and educational use only. Users may need to obtain other permissions for their intended use(s) and are responsible for determining copyright status and securing these permissions.
To inquire about copyrights and reproductions, contact: xxx@911memorial.org
