Steven Rosenbaum, one of the CameraPlanet curators, on site filming debris from the World Trade Center.
Courtesy TheCameraPlanet Archive/NYPL
The New York Public Library has acquired a massive collection of more than 1,200 hours of video documenting the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, its immediate aftermath, and the subsequent design and construction of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
The CameraPlanet archive, which consists of footage recorded by more than 130 New Yorkers using consumer cameras, captures the havoc and devastation of the attacks, as well as the resilience of New Yorkers during one of their most challenging moments in history.
Emmy Award–winning filmmakers Steven Rosenbaum and Pamela Yoder had acquired and preserved the footage over the past 24 years. Their archive contains over 500 hours of first-person video recorded during the week of the attacks, as well as more than 700 hours that document the planning, design, and construction of the memorial museum.
“As a city, we made a promise in the days and weeks after 9/11 to never forget. This unprecedented archive will help us do just that for generations to come,” said Iris Weinshall, NYPL’s chief operating officer. Weinshall was also New York City’s Department of Transportation Commissioner on 9/11.
This still from the CameraPlanet archive shows the aftermath of United Airlines Flight 175 striking the south tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.Courtesy CameraPlanet Archive and NYPL
The CameraPlanet Archive will be preserved and processed by the NYPL’s Manuscripts and Archives Division and is expected to be publicly accessible through the library’s research centers beginning in 2027.
Often called the most photographed day in history, Sept. 11 took place long before technology and social media made recording and uploading major news events as simple as pressing a button. The footage from this archive first had to be developed or scanned, processed, and cataloged.
While some of the archival material appeared in Rosenbaum’s 2002 documentary “7 Days in September,” a majority of the footage has never before been made public.
“At a time when misinformation, denialism, and revisionist history circulate widely, timestamped and contemporaneous video records carry renewed civic importance. The CameraPlanet Archive is not simply a record of tragedy; it is a safeguard against forgetting and distortion,” said Steven Rosenbaum.
Rosenbaum and Yoder assembled this CameraPlanet Archive beginning on Sept. 11. They picked up their cameras during the aftermath of the attacks and published a six-line classified ad in The Village Voice in the wake of the week’s events.
“By any measure, the terrorist attack on Sept. 11 was a major event in American history, deserving of extensive preservation and careful study,” said Kenneth T. Jackson, Barzun Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University. “This archive will help preserve the record for future generations of students and scholars.”
Once available, the collection will join the NYPL’s extensive 9/11-related holdings, including the reporting files of New York Times journalists James Glanz and Eric Lipton.
The New York Public Library will host a screening of Rosenbaum and Yoder’s film 7 Days in September on Thursday, Sept. 11, to mark the donation of this extensive collection. The screening will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 PM, in the Celeste Auditorium at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building and will be followed by a conversation with the filmmakers and Jackson, moderated by author and journalist Kurt Andersen
The program is open to the public, with details available at nypl.org.