State Museum of Pennsylvania commemorates 20th anniversary of 9/11 with new exhibit
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Col. Paul J. Evanko, then head of the Pennsylvania State Police, raced to a state emergency command center as soon as he heard the first plane had hit the World Trade Center. What he did not know is how he and his colleagues would be drawn into the attacks minutes later when the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville.
“Witness to History: Col. Paul Evanko’s 9/11 Field Notes” serves as the basis for an exhibit that will open at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg Sept. 9. Evanko’s notes from 9/11, which he donated to the Pennsylvania State Archives in 2016, are on display for the very first time. They detail the rapid unfolding of events and offer a minute-by-minute accounting of decisions made to secure the crash site and protect Pennsylvanians.
The exhibit will be on display through Jan. 2. For additional information, visit www.statemuseumpa.org.