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September 11, 2001, Documentary Project Collection

AFC 2001/015

Prepared by Rosemary Graham and Valda Morris-Slack

American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

October 2004

Encoded by Valda Morris-Slack, February 2005

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/eadafc.af005002

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Collection Concordance by Format

Manuscript Materials

Sound Recordings

Graphic and Photographic Materials

Moving images

Electronic media

Artifacts

Administrative Information

Provenance

Processing History

Location

Access

Restrictions

Electronic Format

Preferred Citation

The Collector

Key Subjects

Donating Institutions

Genres

Languages

Locations

Scope and Content Note

Collection Inventory

Collection Summary

Key Subjects

Note: An asterisk denotes a subject term or a name (whether a person, a group, an organization, or a location) that does not conform to LC Subject and Authority Headings. Brackets are used for additional information that is not in LC Name and Authority Headings. See Appendix for Institutions associated with locations.

Donating Institutions

Genres

Languages

Locations

Administrative Information

Provenance

On September 12, 2001, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress sent an email to folklorists and other ethnographers across the nation asking them to record on audiocassette the thoughts and feelings expressed by individuals and communities following the terrorist attacks of September 11. This project echoes one conducted sixty years earlier, on December 8, 1941, when Alan Lomax, then in charge of the Archive of American Folk Song, sent an urgent telegram to folklorists around the country to collect "man on the street" reactions to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declaration of war by the United States.

Within a week after the September 12 email was sent, collection materials began to arrive at the Library of Congress. Mail delivery to the Library was abruptly interrupted from October 2001-May 2002, due to the discovery of envelopes containing anthrax in the Hart Senate Office Building, a part of the Capitol complex. During that time, items, received via U.S. postal mail were sent offsite to be irradiated in order to rid them of possible anthrax contamination. When the mail delivery to the Library resumed, and collection materials finally began to arrive at the Center, less than one percent of items were discovered to be severely damaged or destroyed by the irradiation process. Attempts were made to contact donors of these items and some were able to provide information about the content of their interviews. The destroyed materials remain a part of the collection. Because of the mail delay, donations were accepted through 2002, as long as the materials were reflective of immediate reactions from the fall of 2001.

Processing History

This collection received much media attention in the fall of 2001 which prompted some immediate, but minimal, processing of the collection. Release forms and other manuscript materials were organized according to the donating institution's or individual's name. Some reference tapes were also made at this time. In addition, Ann Hoog, the curator of this collection, created an Access database to assist with the organization of and access to the materials. Data entry and some initial processing were done by Ann Hoog, and American Folklife Center interns, Tatiana Omeltchenko and Darryl Gonzalez, volunteer, Howard Kramer, and digital conversion specialists, John Barton and Myron Briggs. The processing was completed by Rosemary Graham and Valda Morris-Slack in 2003.

Location

The collection can be requested in the Folklife Reading Room.

Access

Access to the collection is unrestricted. Consult a reference librarian in the Folklife Reading Room.

Restrictions

Some restrictions may apply concerning the use, duplication or publication of particular materials in the collection. Consult a reference librarian in the Folklife Reading Room for specific information.

Electronic Format

Selections from this and other Library of Congress September 11 collections can be found in the online exhibit, Witness and Response: September 11 Acquisitions at the Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/911. Materials from this collection is also available as part of a web presentation on the American Memory website, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/911_archive. A database for the AFC September 11 collection can also be accessed in the Folklife Reading Room. Consult a reference librarian for additional information pertaining to the website and the database.

Related AFC Collections

Note: The following collections are related by concept and not necessarily content. Consult a reference librarian for further information.

The "Man-on-the-Street" Interviews Collection (AFC 1941/004).

The "Dear Mr. President" Collection (AFC 1942/003).
Both of these collections are available online as an American Memory presentation entitled After the Day of Infamy: "Man-on-the-Street" Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afcphhtml/afcphhome.html.

The Radio Research Project Manuscript Collection (AFC 1941/005).

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: The September 11, 2001, Documentary Project, Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Collection Concordance by Format

Note: The total number of items given is accurate as October, 2004. Additional items may be added. All items are located in the American Folklife Center.

Manuscript Materials

Sound Recordings

Note: The total number of items given below is accurate as of the date of this collection guide's completion. Additional items may be added. All of the Sound Recordings have been duplicated excluding the compact discs

Graphic and Photographic Materials

Photographic materials

Graphic materials

Moving images

Electronic media

Artifacts

The Collector

Multiple collectors. Consult a reference librarian for further information.

Scope and Content Note

On September 12, 2001, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress sent an email to folklorists and ethnographers across the nation asking them to record on audiotape the thoughts and feelings expressed by individuals and communities following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The project was developed by Ann Hoog, who collaborated with Peggy Bulger in the original call for participation. Materials were mailed to the Library of Congress beginning in September 2001. The collection reflect the regional, ethnic, socioeconomic, and political diversity of Americans at the time of the September 11 attacks.

The collection comprises of 8978 items (as of August 2004): 8100 manuscript materials; 386 sound recordings (SR); 421 graphic and photographic materials (GR and PH); 18 moving images (MV); 15 electronic media (CF); and 38 artifacts (AR). There are twelve boxes of manuscript materials documenting the American Folklife Center's development of the project and the responses made by the general public. These manuscript materials are divided into seven categories: Administrative Materials, Participant Documentation, Unpublished Writings, Reports, Published Works, Internet Folklore, Clippings, and Online Articles. These include emails, ephemera (from various internet web sites), posters, newspaper articles, personal essays, narratives, children's drawings, and other miscellaneous items that were left at the memorials.

The Participant Documentation series is arranged in sub-folders (a paper folder within an archival folder) according to the participants' last names and the ID numbers of the materials which pertain to the documentation. (For example, the first participant documentation sub-folder is titled: "BEHR, ALEXANDRA, SR001.) This arrangement ensures that the interviewer and the interviewee, and the primary materials (sound recording, photographic images, etc) are readily identifiable. In some cases, there is no documentation accompanying a specific sound recording, photograph, or other type of medium. Therefore, in some sub-folders there is a "?" after the SR number. This indicates that the documentation most likely goes with that SR number, but the name on the form has not been linked definitively with that particular sound recording. There is a folder entitled "Participant Documentation (Michigan)." Originally there were no tapes accompanying these forms from Michigan State University (MSU). Fortunately, a few irradiated tapes were found which were subsequently linked to Michigan State University (MSU), but could only be identified and not played because of the extensive damage done to the tapes by the irradiation process. The participant documentation is also divided into "originals" and "photocopies" (as there was no way to verify which items had been irradiated, all the documentation was photocopied). All photocopied materials can be served to readers.

There are twenty-two accounts of personal narratives and eleven poetic works within the Unpublished Writings subseries, and they are arranged chronologically. These accounts are the personal experiences of the writers on the day or days following September11, 2001. Other accounts recall events in the authors' lives months after the attacks.

The Reports subseries consists of school projects that were submitted by several institutions such as Hunter College, Colorado College, and California State University. Each project was approached differently but was still able to follow prescribed guidelines, which was to capture the thoughts and feelings expressed by the American people in the aftermath of September 11. For example, California State University presented its response in the form of a research project which incorporated the use of posters, overheads, cartoons, and newspaper clippings. The students at Colorado College, on the other hand, wrote term papers based on the interviews they conducted.

The Published Works subseries consists of written articles and statements referring to the events and reactions to the attacks of September 11. The works include excerpts from the Congressional records, press releases, photographs, flyers, brochures, and other ephemera.

The Internet Folklore section is a compilation of Internet sites that comment on the events of September 11, whether through humor, images, coincidences, memorials, legends, or Internet warnings.

The Clippings and Online Articles subseries includes most of the California State University at Chico reports, which contain a large number of newspaper clippings. These clippings are included here and cross-referenced with the reports.

Note that, all of the manuscript materials include database printouts that capture information about sound recordings, graphic and photographic materials, moving images, electronic media, and artifacts, all of which are available on hard copy and on a zip disk located in Box one, Folder two.

The Sound Recordings series includes interviews with people who were in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon during the attacks, and also people living in East Sullivan, Maine; Des Moines, Iowa; Los Angeles, California, and many other towns and cities-small and large -across the country. Approximately twenty-eight states are represented. The collection includes interviews with teachers and students from elementary to graduate school; police officers, firefighters and other emergency workers; secretaries, executives, librarians, city officials, and people whose families have lived in the United States for generations as well as those recently arrived.

There are approximately two hundred interviews from New York City and Arlington, Virginia, but the majority of the interviews in the collection is gathered from other parts of the country. The content of the interviews goes beyond feelings experienced on the day of September, 11. They include views on international relations, politics, economics, patriotism, charity efforts, fears of flying, prejudices, and how relationships were changed by the events of September 11, 2001.

The sound recording database is available in electronic form and on hard copy. One is organized by SR number and the other alphabetically by the interviewer's last name. The recordings are arranged alphabetically by state, institution of affiliation, interviewer's last name, and interviewee's last name. Using the "find" option in Access, researchers should be able to find a specific sound recording easily. A few sound recordings were added to the collection after the numbering arrangement was completed so the last recording, SR386, is not the final recording. The sound recordings were numbered consecutively regardless of format. Hence, the box of compact discs are not in sequence. Although the collection of audio recordings was the primary goal of this project, some people documented their community's reactions in photographs. Therefore, this collection also includes photographic documentation of some of the spontaneous memorial tributes created near the Pentagon, and in other parts of the country. These memorials, sign boards, and decorations all add to the public discourse regarding the events. Candles and flowers, written messages and drawings from children, flags and other items, collectively express the grief and solidarity of individuals and businesses. The American Folklife Center (AFC) staff took photographs of memorials at Arlington Cemetery and near the Pentagon. The American Folklife Center (AFC) also received memorial images from places such as Marietta, Georgia; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Las Vegas, Nevada. An attempt was made to arrange the Graphic Images by format (all the color photos together, etc.), but additional images were found after the arrangement was made. Thus, the organization is not sequential in terms of format. Items can be found fairly easily using the database. The digital graphic images are housed with the electronic media.

Moving Images are arranged alphabetically by state and institution of affiliation. The Moving Image series includes interviews and patriotic songs pertaining to September 11, 2001.

Artifacts are organized loosely by format and institution of affiliation. The artifact collection consists of materials that were gathered from a temporary memorial site in Knoxville, Tennessee or collected as part of a project. They include flags, posters, copper signs, and a sample of the irradiated tapes.

Collection Inventory