10 years later: September 11

If you’re old enough to remember when September 11 was just another day on the calendar, then you probably remember where you were on September 11, 2001. I was in graduate school at UW-Madison. I learned the towers had been hit when I went to work that morning at the Music Library. It was shortly before 9 am CST, and I was getting ready to open the Circulation Desk. My supervisor told me what had happened. I jumped online to see what was going on. When I went to class later that morning, someone had CNN on the overhead in one of the classrooms, and the room was packed with people watching the news.

Unbelievably, it’s been 10 years since 9/11. Thousands of books, videos, songs, web sites, poems, and pictures have been created: analyzing what happened, giving tributes to the victims, trying to figure out how to keep it from happening again…the list goes on and on.

The Andersen Library has many materials on 9/11. If you want to read the government’s analysis of what happened, check out The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. It’s available in print in the Library in the Federal Documents section on the main floor. It’s also available full text online. If you want to watch a documentary video of what it was like to be in the Towers that day—shot on scene on 9/11, by two videographers making a documentary of a rookie New York City firefighter—try 9/11, located in the Browsing DVD, Academic collection on the main floor at HV6432 .N56 2002. Many more items can be found by doing a Subject Browse in the catalog on September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001. Also, the Library has a large 9/11 commemorative display in front of the Circulation Desk.

For newspaper coverage with images of actual headlines and photographs, see the ProQuest Historical: The New York Times database, or the ProQuest Historical: Chicago Tribune database. Limit your search to the front page for September 11, September 12, and days following, and then view the page map images to view the entire front pages. Compare what was in the newspaper on September 11 versus what was covered September 12.

For a list and photos of the victims of that day, see September 11: A Memorial.

The Center for Homeland Defense and Security is commemorating the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 by offering links to essays, recorded personal stories, and other resources and blogs.

As you can see, the list of information about 9/11 is seemingly endless. But if you just want to sit and contemplate what happened on that day 10 years ago, I recommend Alan Jackson’s song, “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?” The song begins: Where were you when the world stopped turning? / On that September day?

Do you remember?