Special Collections Research Center Presents ‘In Pursuit of Justice: Pan Am Flight 103’

Pan Am 103 family members and supporters at 103rd Day Rally in Washington, D.C., on April 3, 1989. (Courtesy of Richard Paul Monetti Family Papers, Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives)

Syracuse University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center’s (SCRC) new exhibition titled “In Pursuit of Justice: Pan Am Flight 103” will be on view Sept. 5, 2023 through the Fall 2023 semester.

The exhibition commemorates the 35th anniversary of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that claimed the lives of 270 individuals, including 35 students returning from studying abroad through Syracuse University. It will be on display on the sixth floor of Bird Library.

An opening reception for the exhibition is being held on Thursday, Sept. 21, at 4:30 p.m. Those interested in attending should register.

Curated by Pan Am 103 Archivist Vanessa St. Oegger-Menn, the exhibition features materials donated to the Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives at SCRC by the victims’ loved ones, communities and members of the recovery and investigative teams. It provides an overview of the disaster, investigation and first trial at Kamp van Zeist in the Netherlands.

“’In Pursuit of Justice: Pan Am Flight 103′ is a tribute to the 270 lives lost on Dec. 21, 1988,” says Vanessa St. Oegger-Menn. “The investigation, collective action and changes to victims’ services that followed the bombing are just some of the enduring examples of how the disaster continues to shape contemporary conversations around terrorism and trauma. This exhibition provides a glimpse into the journey from the longest night of the year in a small Scottish town to the present day.”