Squires Library partners with 9/11 Memorial and Museum to commemorate anniversary of attacks
Sara Cook standing next to ‘September 11, 2001: The Day that Changed the World’. Photo by Senior Photographer Isaac Vacheresse.
Sept. 11, 2021, marks the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. In response, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum has launched a program partnering with universities across the country to commemorate this pivotal moment in recent American history. Lee University’s William G. Squires Library has partnered with the organization.
Photo by Isaac Vacheresse.
“The 9/11 Museum was interested in connecting with academic institutions from a variety of places and age ranges nationwide. Lee University’s William G. Squires Library was included in this endeavor because of our commitment to higher education and responsible citizenship,” said Sara Cook, the library technical services assistant and coordinator for Lee’s participation in the program.
For the entire month of September, Squires Library will house a 14-poster display. The posters offer an in-depth timeline of the attacks on 9/11, firsthand accounts from victims, first responders and others who stepped up to help during and after the attacks. The display will also feature photographs depicting the damage caused to the Twin Towers.
“The 14 posters in this series, ‘September 11, 2001: The Day that Changed the World,’ immerse the viewer in a way that is not only informative but also personal,” said Cook. “I think the most important aspect of this exhibit is that many students currently enrolled were too young to remember the attack on the U.S. that began that September morning, and it is a crucial day in American history to remember. My grandparents had Pearl Harbor, my parents had JFK’s assassination, and my generation will have 9/11.”
On the bottom corner of the first and last posters in the display, there are QR codes that link to a 9/11 Memorial & Museum webpage with more information and modules about the events of 9/11. Additionally, the museum has asked those who view the display to post to social media using the hashtag #NeverForget911 or tagging @911memorial.
The 9/11 Memorial and Museum encourages students to not only memorialize the lives lost during the attack but to consider the lasting effect the terrorist attack had on American culture.
“9/11 is not just about the planes hitting the towers, or the Pentagon or crashing in a field in PA — it is also about the aftermath,” said Cook. “People stepped up and donated blood for the first time, stores sold out of American flags for porches and yards, neighbors checked on each other and donated items to people they would never meet or know personally. It’s about the whole of the tragedy and later of the unity that enveloped everyone in the days and weeks to follow 9/11.”
The 9/11 Memorial and Museum’s goal in partnering with the university is to help students understand the gravity of the attack and how 9/11 shaped America into the country it is now.
“It has been said 9/11 was a day that changed America. I think most current undergraduate students have lived in a different America than the one prior to the attacks that occurred that day. Most current students either were not born or were too young on 9/11 to remember what we experienced as we sat glued to the news and watched the events unfold,” said Director of Library Services Dr. Louis Morgan. “When the 9/11 Memorial and Museum reached out to libraries about the commemorative display, I felt this would be an opportunity for our campus to honor the memory of those who perished that day and to learn about the impact 9/11 has had on our country and world. I am very pleased Lee is participating in this national event.”
For those wishing to contribute their story to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, check out the Remembrance Wall.
For those wishing to join the conversation about 9/11 on the 20th anniversary, here is a link to Remember the Sky of that September morning.
