Museum trying to preserve memorial banner

LEXINGTON, Ky. - It was the first and may remain the mostcompelling visual memorial to the 49 people killed in a crash atLexington's airport, but the huge banner bearing hundreds ofmessages of support is fading and showing signs of wear.

Now the Aviation Museum of Kentucky, the current home of thebanner commemorating the victims of the August 2006 crash of Comair5191, is working to preserve the original and to produce a life-sized replica that can remain on display.

On the morning of the crash, when the airliner went down in afield after the crew mistakenly took off on a runway that was tooshort, there was an immediate need for both friends and strangers toexpress their condolences.

The makeshift solution was a 20-foot by 5-foot cloth and plasticbanner, which Blue Grass Airport posted at a parking lot near theterminal so people could put their thoughts in writing.

"It is a positive and uplifting thing that came out of this,"said Anita Threet, whose husband, Greg, was among those killed."I've viewed it only a few times, but only been able to see ahandful of signatures. I was hoping they'd put it in a format whereI could really take some time to read it. Those people areexpressing their thoughts about our loss."

Since the crash, the combination of sunshine and wet weather hascaused some of the ink to bleed through the banner material. Theedges have started to fray.

"At that point, no one was thinking about preserving this," saidJack Baugh, director of the aviation museum. "They were justthinking about this horrible tragedy and the loved ones who werelost."

The museum has been holding discussion with the Smithsonianmuseums in Washington, as well as the Kentucky Historical Society,about storing the banner in inert gas to prevent furtherdeterioration.

The museum staff also took a first step last week to duplicatethe banner. The cloth was spread out flat and a photographer climbeda ladder to shoot dozens of digital images so a detailedreproduction can be printed.

The museum hopes to eventually display the duplicate banner andpublish it in book form so people could have access to all of themessages.

The construction of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington -where people left flowers, letters and mementos - was the start of anational habit of saving not only famous artifacts after a tragedybut also artifacts reflecting public and personal grief, saidMarilyn Zoidis, assistant director of the Kentucky HistoricalSociety. She previously worked for the Smithsonian, where she ledefforts to preserve artifacts from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacksand to restore the original Star-Spangled Banner, the flag thatinspired the national anthem.

She noted that, after the 2001 terrorist attacks, communitiesacross the nation produced banners where people could write messagesand, like Kentucky with its Comair banner, many face preservationissues.

"They present real challenges, yet they are such important piecesof memory," Zoidis said. "They speak to the immediacy, the tragedy,the sense of loss. And, in many ways, they also speak to thecelebration of life, because people will often leave something thatis significant about this person's life."