Our “World Trade Center: from Birth to Rebirth” collection is the largest privately owned collection of World Trade Center memorabilia and art available today. Rather than focusing on the events of 9/11, this collection offers an uplifting and immersive experience into the politics, history, social impact and art inspired by the Twin Towers.
Here are just a few of the hundreds of items we have:
OUR COLLETION INCLUDES:
- Items from the planning and opening of the WTC:
- Photographs from the tugboat strike of the WTC, opening day in the WTC path, and others.
- The Port Authority’s press release document for the WTC.
- Blueprints
- Newspapers and articles regarding not only the WTC, but the plane crashes into Empire State Building and other New York City buildings.
- Original toys and items from the first WTC store.
- Menus, plates, hotel accouterments, and other items from the hotels, restaurants and stores of WTC, including Windows on the World, the
Observation Deck, and the Greatest Bar on Earth. - Keys and locks belonging to the Port Authority Locksmith’s office.
- Employee pass cards.
- Items from the 1993 bombing:
- An original 9-1-1 tape recording issued by Manhattan Fire Radio.
- An original Port Authority Police “holdback” jacket used during the 1993 bombing.
- Blueprints for the rebuilding after the 1993 bombing.
- Cantor Fitzgerald’s “I Survived the Terror of the Towers” T-Shirt.
- WTC-Inspired art:
- Salvador Dali,
- Peter Max,
- George Rodrigue,
- Fritz Koenig,
- Michael Knigin,
- Mafiosi Henry Hill,
- Carlos Diniz,
- Norma Heyn, and many others.
- Entertainment:
- Movie posters,
- Comic books,
- Advertisements, and
- Political messages.
- Ground Zero items:
- Cleanup blueprints,
- Construction gear,
- A collection of photograph taken by first responders, and
- Police and Port Authority Gear and Clothing used on 9-11.
- Osama bin Laden items:
- Arabic and English newspapers and magazines.
- FBI “Most Wanted” Posters and Matchbooks.
- Pete Rose’s signed baseball about Osama bin Laden.
- The Whitehouse’s onyx and gold 2002 9/11 memorial Easter egg.
- Items and images of the Freedom Tower, from its inception to today, and
- An array of items of WTC and 9/11, many never before seen.
An Opportunity for All Ages
Our items for display are an opportunity for people of all ages to learn more about the fascinating history of World Trade Center. Aimed toward the beauty of the Twin Towers and the recreation of our World Trade tower, the collection includes, but does not focus on, the death and devastation of 9-11 and Ground Zero.
Did You Know?
- WTC Architect Minoru Yamasaki never wanted the WTC to be so tall…he was afraid of heights.
- The WTC design that we know was not the first; the first design was short and squat.
- The U.S. Supreme Court almost caused the WTC to never be built; business owners brought a lawsuit to stop building the Twin Towers, and they almost succeeded.
- The location of the WTC was the sight of many explosions and bomb-plants from 1920 on; because of this, the U.S. DOJ placed the WTC on the cover of its anti-terrorism manual.
- We definitely knew where Bin Laden was in the 1980s and 1990s. Time Magazine interviewed him in 1992, and in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan invited bin Laden and his crew to the White House and gave them a check for three million dollars as “freedom fighters.”
- Superman is not the only superhero touting NY as his home; Spiderman is nearly always seen in NY with WTC. The Spiderman II movie poster, released in about May 2001, showed WTC reflected in Spiderman’s eye. After 9/11, the poster was withdrawn and replaced.
- Osama bin Laden resented his father , an issue resolved only when bin Laden’s father died in an airplane accident.
- New York has refused to pay injured Ground Zero first responders their workers’ compensation, yet the current death toll for these workers exceeds those who died on 9/11.
- There are so many first responders that could use our help, our support, and our care; they have been there for us, and they cannot be forgotten.
