A Three-Part Series: Pieces of Paper, Pages of 9/11 History
A Three-Part Series: Pieces of Paper, Pages of 9/11 History
Starting tomorrow, The MEMO blog will carry a three-part series featuring the words from ephemera collector Michael Ragsdale. Ragsdale has been a collector of New York City event-specific paper ephemera and autographs since 1997. He started collecting the items for fun while he worked as a cameraman capturing various events for C-SPAN, Columbia University, the Manhattan Institute, the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospitals of Columbia and Cornell and others.
His collecting took a new direction on the morning of September 11, 2001. Ragsdale began two separate aftermath-related collecting efforts, both important and unique. One of his collections, which totals 4,000 individual pieces and took 14 months to build, was acquired by the 9/11 Memorial Museum for use in exhibitions when the space opens in 2012 at the World Trade Center site. He has retained the second collection - "a seven-year paper history" of 3,000 pieces and 500 autographs. What began as a hobby has become an important contribution in conveying the story of 9/11.
Over the next three days, Ragsdale will share stories about some of the pieces in his collection.
By 9/11 Memorial Staff
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Dr. Paul Lioy is a professor and the Vice Chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He is also the Director of Exposure Science at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Inst
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Paper Collection: VP Cheney's Remarks After 2001 Attacks
This is the first story in a three-part series featuring words from ephemera collector Michael Ragsdale. Ragsdale has been a collector of New York City event-specific paper ephemera and autographs since 1997. He started collecting the items for fun whil