Photo Credit: Mark Lentz. Viewpoint: various within Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central; 01/08/01 1:30 PM.

Notes (Roving Rube): This exhibit, running through January 20th in Grand Central, is sponsored by Morgan Stanley in tribute to the rescue workers and uniformed officers who led Morgan Stanley employees to safety on September 11th.

Veteran LIFE photographer Joe McNally conceived the project. He used a 40 x 80 Polaroid camera, about the size of a one-car garage, located at the Moby C Studio in Manhattan. ... Over the course of three weeks, 272 people involved in the tragedy stood before McNally's lens. Their images, while etched with the pain of September 11, convey their unmistakable sense of resilience, and the strength that embodies the spirit of America.

The portraits show rescuers, survivors, witnesses, and the bereaved, each accompanied by a plaque with a brief description in their own words of what they experienced. The large scale of the photos, seen in person, is highly effective, and the exhibit is quite moving.