People who are honoring fallen relatives and friends who died during the Sept. 11 attacks will be spending their first year without New York City’s 9/11 Tribute Museum in 16 years.

The museum, which opened in 2006, was open to the public for the last time on Aug. 17 and closed its doors permanently on Aug. 31, museum co-founder Jennifer Adams said.

As this weekend’s anniversary continues and people move forward, Adams said the biggest loss of the museum will be to the 9/11 community. There is a large population that is continuing to suffer from physical and emotional trauma caused by 9/11, she said, such as first responders and residents who moved back to rebuild the area.

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She said the museum was a “second home” for those who continue to struggle with what happened on 9/11. It gave people a constructive outlet for their emotions and stories, she said, something visitors were always eager to hear.

“Tribute was serving the community in terms of always being a constant open door to anyone,” she said. “And people came in waves, in ups and downs of their lives.”

Joan Mastropaolo, a 12-year museum volunteer and a board director, said that with the closing of the museum, she realized she lost her venue for sharing her story. She and her husband lived in the Battery Park City area of New York, and they were displaced following the 9/11 attack for six months.

Mastropaolo said that after 9/11, the environment was terrible, as it was hard to get both in and out of the city.

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“Living here was a real challenge, and people don’t realize how many people actually lived here on 9/11,” she said. “I feel like my story is going to be lost, and that really concerns me because I have a story to tell.”

Mastropaolo said she enjoyed meeting people from all over the world who had seen the events on TV but did not know what actually happened that day. She, and other volunteers who were there that day, could describe the smell and the atmosphere better than anyone else, she said.

Both Adams and Mastropaolo said they would miss the children visiting the museum, running from exhibit to exhibit, looking at the different artifacts, and speaking with volunteers.

“I’m so proud of the number of children that we were able to bring in our doors who really either knew nothing about 9/11 or knew that it was just something really bad and nobody wanted to talk about it,” Adams said. “They left with such a uniquely inspiring motivation to do something good in their community in remembrance of 9/11.”

What made the NYC Tribute Museum different from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum at Ground Zero was that it not only taught people about one of the darkest moments in U.S. history, but also moved the story forward.

“The thing that [visitors] reflected on the most was learning not only events of the day, and those stories and the memory of the people we lost, but also the rebuilding, the recovery,” she said. “And then, how many hundreds of foundations, small family foundations that grew out of Sept. 11 that were doing such great work around the world.”

Most of the museum’s exhibits and artifacts will live on at the New York State Museum. However, she said, the room of family photos (around 2,000 photos) will have to go to rest as their license is expired.

The Tribute organization will continue providing online resources and educational tools for schools that are unsure how to broach the subject to children. They always recommended to teachers that 9/11 instruction begin at fourth grade due to children’s comprehension level and their emotional understanding of death at that age, Adams said.

“Unfortunately, it has all of the things that you don’t want to be brought into a classroom,” she said. “You know, religion, politics, war, tragedy, trauma.”

However, the museum’s closing is not stopping the organization from continuing to educate the community on 9/11. She said she hopes the organization can continue to add video testimonials and stories from 9/11 families, survivors, first responders, and recovery workers.

“We found that a person’s history, with students especially, is very, very powerful in terms of them getting to ask questions,” she said.

Brett Eagleson, the president of advocacy group 9/11 Justice, said the closure of the museum speaks “larger volumes” to how the country is forgetting about 9/11.

“I remember that this country and the world vowed to never forget,” he said. “But what we’re seeing as the years go on is that, slowly, 9/11 is becoming more of a historical event, rather than something that is recently fresh in our minds.”

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Eagleson said the 9/11 Justice organization, much like other 9/11 family and community organizations, are working tirelessly to ensure accuracy and transparency when it comes to talking about 9/11. The museum closing, with all of its history and evidence, is a tremendous loss, he said.

“It’s history, right? And there’s so much to learn about it, from our intelligence failures prior to 9/11, about what happened after 9/11,” Eagleson said. “I just think that without this museum in place, that’s a real detriment to the memory of what happened that day.”

Original Location: Our stories will be lost: 9/11 survivors heartbroken by closing of NYC Tribute Museum

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