A home-made flag on the wall of Arlington National Cemetery facing the Pentagon, placed in response to the September 11th attack. Photo by James Hardin, September 19, 2001.

September 11, 2001, Documentary Project

• Call for Participation
• States Represented
• Article in Folklife Center News

On September 12, 2001, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress called upon folklorists and other ethnographers across the nation to document on audio-tape the thoughts and feelings expressed by average citizens following the tragic events of September 11. In addition, the Center collected photographic documentation of the memorial tributes created near the Pentagon and at the site of the World Trade Center, as well as in other parts of the country. These recordings and other documentary materials are now part of the Center's Archive of Folk Culture, where they are being preserved and will soon be made available to researchers visiting the Folklife Reading Room.

The project was intended to document immediate reactions to September 11, and we are no longer soliciting donations.

Our sincerest appreciation goes out to all who contributed to this collection. So far we have received approximately three hundred hours of recordings from nineteen states (see the map available from the menu), and a U.S. military base in Naples, Italy. The collection reflects the regional, ethnic, socioeconomic, and political diversity of the United States in the fall of 2001, and will provide a historical and cultural resource for future generations.

Related Links:

• Looking Back: 9/11 Across America, (An acoustic exhibition from Duke University entitled Looking Back: 9/11 Across America. This 35-minute CD is being made available to cultural and educational institutions across the United States, and is available online. )
• Witness and Response: September 11 Acquisitions at the Library of
  Congress (An online exhibit from materials acquired concerning September 11.)
• Days of Infamy: December 7 and 9/11 (Online exhibit and documentary program and online exhibit on "Days of Infamy.")
• Map Showing States Represented in the Collection
• "AFC Collects Reactions to the September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attack" (article)

Note to contributors:

Mail delivery to the Library of Congress was interrupted following the discovery of anthrax at a Capitol Hill office, and we are just now receiving many materials that were sent to us last fall. If you sent materials for this collection and have not received a confirmation letter from us, we have not yet received your package. If by the end of this summer you still have not received a letter please contact Ann Hoog at (202) 707-4428, ahoo@loc.gov.