60 Minutes Goes Inside the Unfinished 9/11 Museum

On Sunday’s 60 Minutes, Lesley Stahl got a preview of the long-delayed 9/11 Museum, which will sit below the memorial’s reflecting pools. The museum has already been plagued by bickering between local officials and flooding during Hurricane Sandy, but those working on the project also had to decide how to present extremely sensitive materials. How should voicemail messages left by passengers on the doomed flights be used in the museum? (Sparingly, and only to convey a particular point.) Should visitors see photos of people jumping from the towers? (It’s optional. The exhibit will be placed in an alcove, “where people will be clearly warned.”) Will the photos of the terrorists be included? (Yes, because “We don’t want any child or adult or student to walk through this museum and not leave knowing who did this to us.”) And then, there’s the biggest challenge: “How do you convey the horror of 9/11 without making it unbearable?” says Stahl. “Memorialize a day most of us wish we could forget?”