> In a message dated 01-10-18 12:41:21 EDT, Patricia McDougall wrote:
>
> << Don't you think we have enough reminders?  Do you think we're going to
> forget
>  about what happened without putting that poor flag to rest?

I'm kind of shocked that any museum professionals would argue that this flag
SHOULDN'T be preserved as an artifact of the disaster at the WTC.

We don't know what meanings may ultimately be attached to this flag in the
future, but if we don't have it, then no meaning can possibly be drawn from
it. We may decide later that it's insensitive to display it, so we can
choose not to display it; or that other objects tell the story better, so we
can choose to use others; but if it hasn't been preserved, we have no
choices to make.

Of course it has negative connotations of horrible death and destruction. As
people have pointed out, we do save artifacts of disasters and negative
experiences for future interpretation. The fact that this is our flag that
was so badly desecrated shows America symbolically mutilated. But America
was horribly mutilated on Sept. 11 - or was it? We really don't know the end
of the story yet.

The flag is an opening to ask all these questions about America, patriotism,
the flag as a symbol, the meaning of the events of the 11th... questions
that the public should be allowed to ask and debate, just as we have here.

Of course it should be saved. The Museum of the City of New York and, I
think, the New-York Historical Society, are collecting artifacts from the
tragedy - they should step in if they can.

Carol Ely
Museum Consultant
Louisville

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