Meet the 9/11 Memorial Museum's Chief Curator: Collecting the pieces that make up the larger 9/11 story

Chief Curator Jan Ramirez is immersed in the Sept. 11  aftermath, the personal stories of courage, loss & resilience,  the intimate memories of 2,982 victims she never knew personally, and the countless artifacts, images and recorded sounds that define this transformative day and the  post-9/11 existence.

Ramirez came to her position at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in spring, 2006, with extensive experience working on 9/11-related projects. At the New York Historical Society, where she was vice president and director of the museum, she and her colleagues mounted an ambitious series of interpretive exhibits, public programs and collecting initiatives in the wake of the terrorist attacks known as “History Responds.”

In 2004, she was appointed to serve as a resource member of the WTC Memorial Center Advisory Committee convened by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, or LMDC, which spearheaded the drafting of a educational and content mission for a museum interpretive center complementing the 9/11 Memorial at the WTC site. She also participated in the Professional Services Committee of the September’s Mission educational web site project - that matured into the Living Memorial archive overseen by the Voices of September 11th - and served as a curatorial consultant for the documentary film "Objects & Memory," which explores museums and their response to 9/11.

As an independent museum consultant, she has worked on a variety of interpretive, collections development, and long range planning projects for a range of clients. Prior to her positions at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and the New York Historical Society, she formerly served as Deputy Director & Chief Curator at the Museum of the City of New York, Chief Curator at the Hudson River Museum of Westchester, and as a Research Associate at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She holds a Ph.D and M.A. in American Studies from Boston University and a B.A in English Literature from Dartmouth College.

Because of her unique expertise, Ramirez has been interviewed in several news stories related to the 9/11 disaster.

By Michael Frazier, Sr. Communications Manager for the 9/11 Memorial