Thinking About the 10th Anniversary of September 11 on the 25th anniversary

As the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001, draws near, these objects from the museum’s Photographic History Collection show how photography has served to document, record, shape and transmit experiences that connect the tragedy and its legacy to American life

Anniversaries invite us to remember what happened, reflect on why it continues to matter to us, and consider where we are headed. To consider photographs collected by our museum at the 10th anniversary of September 11 is to study intertwined histories of the past, present, and future. Three photographic acquisitions I collected from that period help us explore the world of 2011, the legacies of September 11, and the history of the photographic medium.

Perhaps one of the most surprising photographs from the 10th anniversary is a daguerreotype by Jerry Spagnoli. Spagnoli’s work shows President Barack Obama delivering remarks at the site of the collapse of the World Trade Center, where the 9/11 Memorial & Museum now stands.

Daguerreotypes were among the first types of photographs that emerged in the 1830s. These one-of-a-kind photographs on silvered copper plates involved a cumbersome and relatively slow production process, so it might seem unusual to use this format for journalistic or documentary purposes in the 21st century.

The 19th-century process creates a starkly different photographic object compared to most contemporary photographs. The daguerreotype’s limited color palette (blue and grays), the out-of-focus heads in the foreground, and the small figure on the outdoor stage harken to 19th-century photographs and illustrations of speeches given by statesmen at important events, like President Lincoln’s first inaugural address at the U.S. Capitol. In Spagnoli’s daguerreotype, overexposure (known as solarization) renders the sky above the 10th anniversary ceremony in a vivid blue, which recalls the cloudless blue sky that defined photographs from the morning at Ground Zero a decade earlier. The blend of the present (President Obama’s address), the reference to the 19th-century (in the type of photograph and the aesthetics), the allusion to September 11 (the sky), and the reference to the future (the site of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) allow us to hold the ceremony that took place on September 11, 2011, within a longer timeline of American history. We’re reminded that it is a longstanding practice of national leaders to console the nation after a tragedy. We’re also reminded that the human spirit can hold grief and hope at the same time.

In contrast to Spagnoli’s unique photograph, Marco Grob’s large gelatin silver prints for Beyond 9/11: Portraits of Resilience were meant to be widely seen in magazines, online, and in exhibitions. Grob was commissioned by Time magazine to create a set of portraits to mark the 10th anniversary. He traveled around the country ahead of the anniversary date, producing more than 40 photographs of politicians, members of the military, first responders, ordinary citizens, government employees, and activists.

Looking at Grob’s photos 15 years later, we can see references to histories that we may not have known, legacies that have endured, and lives that have fallen out of sight. This collection reminds us of important conversations, themes, and concerns in 2011, as well as the impact that the ten years between 2001 and 2011 had on individuals.

By 2011, George W. Bush had been out of office for almost two years. He had been President for just eight months when the attacks on September 11, 2001, happened. Decisions he made across his two terms in office had long-standing repercussions in the United States and around the world, including the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, as well as the War on Terror more broadly. Grob’s post-presidency portrait of President Bush with his American flag pin shows a still sturdy, if aged, statesman.

From 2006 to 2025, TSA required the removal of shoes to pass through airport security. Do you remember why you had to take your shoes off to fly? It wasn’t just because of September 11. In December 2001, a terrorist attempted to detonate a bomb embedded in his shoe on an American Airlines plane. Flight attendant Cristina Jones and another flight attendant were assaulted by the radicalized “Shoe Bomber” midflight while subduing him. Within just a few years, rigorous security protocols were implemented in airports. Jones’s actions counted her among the ordinary citizens who became front-line responders to terrorist attacks in 2001. Dressed in her flight attendant uniform, Jones’s body language and stern facial expression make clear she is in charge. Additionally, her direct gaze seems to ask whether the viewer would have done the same to protect the passengers and the plane.

Grob photographed Tammy Duckworth, a U.S. Army helicopter pilot, to represent Iraq War veterans. Despite injuries resulting from a rocket- propelled grenade in 2004 while serving in the War on Terror, which led to her becoming the first woman double amputee in the war, she continued to serve in the Illinois National Guard until 2014. She also served as U.S. Representative from Illinois from 2013 to 2017; at the time of the 25th anniversary, she is a U.S. senator.

The work of collecting historical events doesn’t end. We still collect Revolutionary-era artifacts some 250 years later. Anniversaries are often a time when people reflect on national histories and connect them to objects and materials they own. Sometimes they decide the best place for these items is in a museum or archive. On the 10th anniversary, John Harrington decided the time was right to donate a CD with over 100 digital photographs of the Pentagon crash site to our museum.

Photography of the crash site at the Pentagon was different than in crowded New York City and rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where Flight 93 crashed. Since the Pentagon is a military site, professional and amateur photographers were corralled into one location by government officials. Harrington was headed to New York for a photography assignment when he heard the news about the Pentagon attack. After turning around and driving to the Virginia site, he opted not to join the group of photographers. Instead, he quietly found an alternate perspective on the other side of the Pentagon. His photographs, taken a few hours after a plane struck the building, depict what one might expect at a military facility—a rapid response and fast cleanup.

In one series of photographs, Harrington watched as two firefighters recovered an American flag through a gaping hole in the building and searched for a spot to mount it. Finally placing the flag on an open fence pole, one firefighter pumps his fist in the air. His gesture can be read as one of satisfaction, defiance, and patriotism. Harrington's photographs—showing a side of the Pentagon to which official media access at the time was limited and strictly controlled—had never been made available to the public. By donating them, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary, to the museum's collections, Harrington broadened the visual record, allowing for a fuller view of what the Pentagon looked like on September 11, 2001.

Anniversaries hold the past, present, and future at the same time. Reflecting on collecting and photography from the 10th anniversary reminds us of how we collectively marked the event and places it in a historical context that had as much to do with 2011 as 2001. As we now stand in the 25th anniversary, photography will continue to allow us to remember and reflect on the past while also recording how we understand its importance today.

Shannon Perich is curator for the Photographic History Collection within the museum's Division of Work and Industry.