An exhibit created to bring the tragedies of Sept. 11 closer to home arrived in Madison Tuesday, and with it the memory of a Wisconsinite whose remains may never return to the state.
“MISSING: Last Seen at the World Trade Center,” is on display at the Alliant Energy Center, 1919 Alliant Energy Center Way, through the first week of May.
The commemorative display is comprised of fliers posted by the family and friends of World Trade Center victims after attacks. The posters contain personal information about victims and were posted in hopes of finding the remains or location of their loved ones.
In the days and weeks following the attacks, fliers lined the walls of buildings, streetlights and signposts.
Within the first week, it is estimated 110,000 fliers reporting almost 600 people missing covered the streets.
Following Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s order of a city cleanup, the fliers were gathered and are now stored collectively by the Smithsonian Institution.
However, Louis Nevaer, a New York economist, author and director of the exhibit, saw an opportunity to bring the reality of an American tragedy more directly into communities.
After efforts to contact the family members of the missing, a selection of original fliers was gathered and is now touring the country.
“We first displayed the exhibit in California, where the planes were destined for on Sept. 11. We felt it was important to symbolically complete that journey,” Nevaer said. “From New York to San Francisco, we are all one huge extended family. That is really what this is about.”
Throughout the spring and summer, the exhibit will continue to travel across the country. Madison is one of the first stops on the tour.
“This is indeed an honor for our city,” said Madison mayor and New York native Sue Bauman during the exhibit’s opening ceremony. “Part of this exhibit helps us realize what happened, but it is also part of our saying that we may never forget. And we must also never forget the reactions of communities across America in support of one another.”
Madison resident and UW-Madison graduate Mary Wolfenberger was on hand because the face of her brother, John Patrick Hart, is one of the hundreds enshrined in the exhibit. Hart, an Eau Claire native and employee of Franklin Templeton, was visiting the World Trade Center from his home in California to make a business presentation. He was on the 91st floor of the South Tower when the first plane hit.
Shortly after the first plane hit the North Tower, Hart phoned his wife, Laurie, in California. He said he was leaving the building. When the second plane hit, he again phoned his wife, saying he was “in big trouble” before his phone cut off. It is believed Hart re-entered the building to assist others. His body is yet to be found, but authorities last week located his wallet within the rubble.
“In some ways, this is as close to home as John may ever get,” Wolfenberger said. “My brother died because he was an American. Sept. 11 didn’t just happen to New York. It happened to America, and it happened to John.”
Wolfenberger and other members of Hart’s family traveled to New York in search of their brother.
“When we went to New York, we focused only on what we thought we needed to do,” she said. “But here we were, five vistors from Wisconsin. We had come to find our brother, and we were embraced by New Yorkers.”
The flier of Hart, a former UW student, is displayed amongst hundreds of others, Americans from all races and all walks of life. Some fliers are adorned with personal messages.
The placard for Craig Staub, lost in the World Trade Center, reads, “Wife expecting first child.” An addendum scrawled across the side of the flier says that while Staub was never located, his wife gave birth to a daughter one week later, on her husband’s birthday.
The exhibit is open to the public free of charge from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 17, 23-26, 29-30, May 1-2 and May 7. Patrons should enter the west gate.
