Preserving our memories: September 11

Remarkable Collections 

Remembering is in an individual act, but it is also collective. While each person’s memory fades and shifts, historians and journalists preserve these accounts, some offered right after shocking events and others provided weeks or months later.

Should you wish to explore some remarkable collections, see the

September 11 Digital Archive and the

9/11 Oral History Project 

as well an incredible project by the New York Times, Portraits of Grief, that gives a glimpse into the lives of each of the victims.  This received a 2002 Pulitzer Prize.

The oral histories done following September 11 followed a similar project fielded sixty years earlier in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the “day that will live in infamy” that led Franklin Roosevelt to ask Congress for a declaration of war.

While indeed remarkable, these sources do not and are not intended to capture a broad historical picture of the events — their larger contexts in international affairs, nor the larger aftermath and impacts.

Amy Fried

About Amy Fried

Amy Fried loves Maine's sense of community and the wonderful mix of culture and outdoor recreation. She loves politics in three ways: as an analytical political scientist, a devoted political junkie and a citizen who believes politics matters for people's lives. Fried is Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine. Her views do not reflect those of her employer or any group to which she belongs.