Witness and Response: September 11 Acquisitions at the Library of Congress
Serial and Government Publications Division

On the afternoon of September 11, the Library began collecting U.S. and foreign newspapers that recorded the immediate horror captured in journalists' words and through the photographers' lenses. Because official distribution channels were affected not only on 9/11, but by closure of all U.S. air traffic for three days, and for the ensuing months due to the anthrax attack affecting the mail delivery to the entire Capitol complex, Library staff obtained some of the newspapers you see here, not from usual channels, but from family, friends, and colleagues across the country and overseas.

The Library continues to collect newspapers chronicling the unfolding story of how our nation and the world responded to this tragedy and the challenges that followed. These newspapers are part of the Library's Historic Events Newspaper Collection, which documents seminal events in the United States since the beginning of the nineteenth century.