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9/11 museum objects

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This helmet belonged to FDNY Squad 252 member Kevin Prior. He was in the north tower when it collapsed. Prior's body was found three weeks later, but his mother was troubled that his helmet wasn't recovered. Her concerns were recorded in a TV interview. A Medical Examiner's Office staffer who saw the broadcast recognized the squad number and hand-delivered the helmet to Prior's family.

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Linda Lopez wore these shoes as she fled the 97th floor of the south tower after the first plane struck the north. The impact had sent a fireball past her window at the Fiduciary Trust Company. She was at the 61st floor when the impact of the second jet threw her against a wall. She took off her shoes and continued down until she hit the street, still barefoot. "Lady, your feet are bleeding," someone said, prompting her to put the shoes back on.

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This Port Authority Police Department hat belonged to Officer Liam Callahan, who had been commended for heroism after responding to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and was one of the first responders on the morning of 9/11. Even after the towers collapsed, his wife, Joan, hoped Callahan would turn up in time for their 20th wedding anniversary the next day. Callahan was 44 when he died. His family donated his hat to the museum.

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This doll was found by volunteer rescuer Brian Van Flandern. He rushed from his Queens home when he learned of the attacks, determined to help out although his EMT license had lapsed. He got past a checkpoint and joined the work on "The Pile." He spent 24 hours straight helping search for survivors. The doll turned out to have been from a shelf in the 101st-floor offices of the Chances for Children charity in the north tower.

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This is the singed corporate credit card and wallet of Gennie Gambale, 27, a vice president of Cantor Fitzgerald, whose headquarters occupied the 101st to 105th floors of the north tower. Gambale, one of 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees who died in the attacks, was working on the 103rd floor when the first plane struck below her, trapping her and her colleagues. In the days after, her family put up thousands of posters reading, "We need your help," and bearing a photo of a smiling Gambale around the city in the hope that she had escaped. A police officer, who by coincidence was the mother of one of Gambale's friends, found the wallet on the roof of the nearby Marriott Hotel. She recognized the name and made sure it was quickly returned to Gambale's family.

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A corporate credit card belonging to victim Gennie Gambale, recovered from the rooftop of the Marriott Hotel at the World Trade Center, is seen in this photograph. The card is set to become a part of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York.

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This is the helmet of FDNY Battalion Chief Joseph Pfeifer, of Engine Co. 7, Ladder Co. 1, who was on a call in lower Manhattan when the first jet hit the north tower. Pfeifer set up a command center in the tower's lobby. When the south tower fell, he radioed evacuation orders to his men in the north tower. Pfeifer, along with the rest of Ladder 1, survived. His brother Kevin, a firefighter in another unit, did not.

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These shoes were worn by Roger Hawke, who was working in the Sidney Austin law office that occupied the 57th to 59th floors of the north tower. After fleeing the tower, an ash-caked Hawke walked to the Upper East Side home of his daughter and son-in-law. He left his shoes at the door. His 4-year-old daughter recoiled at the smell from his clothes. "Papi is on fire from the inside," she said.

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This NYPD Emergency Service Unit hardhat and folding shovel were used by Police Officer Kenny Winkler during the Ground Zero cleanup. Winkler was coming off a night shift on the morning of the attacks. He and his colleagues raced to the trade center and stayed in their vehicle to coordinate communications between different police units. After the south tower fell, he ordered everyone inside the north tower to leave.

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Ironworker foreman Larry Keating wore this hard hat while overseeing the removal of wreckage from the trade-center site. He was chosen by his union, Local 40, to represent his colleagues at the ceremonial removal of the site's "Last Column." Keating continued to proudly wear the helmet during visits to the site until his death from a heart attack earlier this year.

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These shoes were worn by Florence Jones, who was still in her office at Baseline Financial on the 77th floor of the south tower when the second plane struck one floor above her. She and co-workers tried two stairwells before finding Stairwell A, the only one not damaged. Jones shed her shoes to flee. Her boss carried them to the street. They were among the last to make it out before the tower fell.

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A Port Authority Police Department uniform hat, badge number 899, and Port Authority Pipe Band hat belonging to victim Liam Callahan is seen in this photograph before becoming a part of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York. Liam Callahan was a Port Authority police officer who had been commended for his "heroic actions" after responding to the 1993 World Trade Center bomb attack, and was a first responder on the morning of 9/11.

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A flight attendant call button from United Flight 93 found at the crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania is displayed alongside other artifacts from the September 11, 2001 attacks as part of an exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

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A coiled reinforcement bar recovered from debris of the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon is seen on display at the "September 11: Rememberance and Reflection" exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, in Washington DC.

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Commemorative medallions fused together from the heat of the Sept. 11 attacks on the Pentagon are displayed alongside other artifacts as part of an exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.

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A flight speed indicator from United Flight 93 found at the crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

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A twisted piece of the fuselage of United Flight 93 found at the crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.