New Exhibit Chronicles Maritime Side of “9.11.01”
New York City’s South Street Seaport Museum plans to open a new exhibit documenting the response to the events of 11 September 2001 by New York’s waterfront and port workers. In recognition of the importance of this story and its relationship to New York Port history, the National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded the museum an emergency grant to prepare an exhibit on the subject. The exhibit, “All Available Boats: Harbor Voices & Images 9.11.01,” will open on 23 March 2002.
“Given the fact that an estimated one million people were evacuated from lower Manhattan by boat on September 11th, the role of the waterfront has been relatively overlooked by major media,” according to Peter Neill, president of the South Street Seaport Museum. “This documentation project, which involves collecting oral histories, documents, photographs, and artifacts, aims to create a permanent record of the immense . . . contribution of the waterfront to the overall rescue effort. We are gratified that the [National Endowment for the Humanities] has recognized the value of this project by giving us emergency funding to share this story with our visitors and the many researchers who are sure to find this useful in years to come.”
The exhibit will focus on eight port workers who represent not only the rescue effort itself, but the broader story of a complex working waterfront that is largely invisible to most New Yorkers. Through the taped words and photographic portraits of these individuals and their vessels—ferries, fireboats, rescue vessels, pilot boats, and others—the exhibit simultaneously will introduce visitors to individuals and to the vital contributions of the historic harbor and harbor workers to the city’s economy and culture.
The South Street Seaport also is the location where tickets for the World Trade Center viewing platform can be acquired on a first-come, first- served basis. The platform, located at Broadway and Fulton streets, opened on 30 December 2001 and has drawn thousands of onlookers. Tickets for the platform are available at the seaport’s ticket booth at Fulton and South Streets on Pier 16 at no charge. Every day, 250 tickets will be distributed for each half-hour block between 1200 and 2000 the same day, or from 0900 to 1130 the following morning. The ticket booth will be open from 1100 to 1800, or until no more tickets are available. City officials urge visitors to arrive at the platform more than 15 minutes before their allotted time to prevent unnecessary crowding.
The museum is open from 1000 to 1700 daily, closed Tuesdays. Summer hours (1000 to 1800, seven days a week) resume on 1 April. For more information call (212) 748-8600, or visit the museum’s web site at www.southstseaport.org.
Doolittle Raid to Be Commemorated
On 18 April 1942, at a point 650 miles from the east coast of Japan that President Franklin Roosevelt later called “Shangri-La,” 16 Army B-25 bombers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle took off from the pitching deck of the Hornet (CV-8) and headed for Tokyo. The bombing raid, which did little physical damage but proved to be a major psychological turning point in World War 11, will be commemorated in several events throughout the spring and summer of 2002. The main commemoration, held jointly by the city of Columbia and the Doolittle Raider Association, will take place on 17-21 April at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport in Columbia, South Carolina, where Doolittle trained his B-25 flight crews in early 1942.
Many of the 40 B-25s still flying in the United States today are expected to be a part of the reunion. The commemoration will include a parade down Main Street in Columbia and the dedication of a memorial display at the airport that honors the 80 men—23 of whom are still living—who made up the crews of the original 16 bombers. For more information about the reunion, visit the Doolittle Raiders Reunion web site at www.doolittleraidersreunion.com or call (803) 788-6837.
Other events commemorating the Doolittle Raid include the annual Aviation Auction at the Flying Tigers War- bird Restoration Museum in Kissimmee, Florida, on 4-6 April, which will include fly-overs by B-25s and dozens of other warbirds. The museum can be reached at (407) 933-1932 or at www.warbird- museum.com.
The 1941 Historical Aircraft Group Museum in Geneseo, New York, also will honor the anniversary of the raid during its 21st Annual “History of Flight” Air- show from 12-14 July. The show will include about four B-25s, plus numerous other aircraft, including a British Spitfire, a P-51 Mustang, and a TBM Avenger. The museum is located about 20 minutes south of Rochester, New York, and can be reached at (585) 243- 2100 or at www.1941hag.org.
Finally, the Cleveland National Air- show, from 31 August to 2 September, will include a B-25 as part of its many aircraft during its three-day event at the Burke Lakefront Airport, minutes from downtown Cleveland. For more information, visit the airshow’s web site at www.clevelandairshow.com.
History Symposium to Be Held in Hawaii
The North American Society for Oceanic History will hold its 14th Annual Symposium on the Maritime Archaeology and History of the Pacific at the University of Hawaii from 16-18 May 2002. The society’s annual meeting will be a joint conference with the University of Hawaii Marine Option Program.
Accommodations will be at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa in Waikiki. The sessions will be held at the Hawaii Maritime Center at Aloha Tower on the Honolulu Harbor waterfront. Society members, nonmembers, University of Hawaii graduate Maritime History and Archaeology students, and interested friends have been invited to submit proposals for short (20 minutes each) papers on subjects relating principally to Pacific maritime and naval history and archaeology, including Polynesian and Hawaiian seafaring, whaling, West Coast maritime shipping, and Pacific Rim naval topics.
The registration fee for all three days is $150 (the single day rate is $50), and the student/military discount fee for all three days is $75 (the student/military discount single day rate is $35).
For more information about the conference, visit the society’s web site at www.ecu.edu/nasoh or contact the University of Hawaii at MAH Program, UHM Marine Option Program, 2525 Correa road, H1G 214, Honolulu, HI 96822, (808) 956-8433.
The society was founded in 1973 to provide a forum for maritime history. Its objectives are to promote the exchange of information among its members and others interested in the history of the seas, lakes, and inland waterways; to call attention to books, articles, and documents pertinent to naval and maritime history; and to work with local, regional, national, international, and government organizations to foster a more general awareness and appreciation for North America’s naval and maritime heritage.