Exhibitions

On view September 10, 2024, through October 6, 2024, in the World Trade Center: Rescue, Recovery, Response Gallery

Two-year old Sadako Sasaki lived with her mother and grandmother in Hiroshima, Japan. On August 6, 1945, the family was approximately one mile from ground zero when the United States dropped the first atomic bomb. Sadako and her mother survived the bombing, but by 1955, Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia. She was hospitalized at a Red Cross hospital in Hiroshima on February 21, 1955.

In August, Sadako learned of a Japanese legend that if a person folded 1,000 origami cranes, the folder would be granted one wish. She set about folding the intricate paper birds, completing more than 1,300 before her death at the age of 12 on October 25, 1955. This tiny origami crane was created by Sadako Sasaki using the red wrapper of a methotrexate medicine container donated from the United States in March 1955.

In 2007, the crane was donated by the Sasaki family to the families of victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks and the 9/11 Tribute Museum, where it was on display until the museum’s closure in 2022 during the COVID 19 pandemic. The crane was among the many items transferred to the collections of the New York State Museum for safekeeping after Tribute’s closure.