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Archives & Special Collections

A Guide to Resources Documenting Staten Island’s Response to 9/11 at the CSI Library

Compiled by Lisa Holland, Project Archivist, in June 2007

About the Guide

This guide is intended to help researchers identify and locate materials in the College of Staten Island Library related to the response of community groups, schools, and other organizations to the events of 9/11 and their impact on Staten Island.

Introduction

CSI has a growing collection of materials documenting the response of community groups and organizations to the events of September 11, 2001 as they relate to Staten Island. Included are photographs, speeches, DVDs, projects done by schoolchildren, and other primary materials. News clippings documenting the first few weeks after the attacks as well as advertisements from the local newspaper commissioned by local businesses to show support for the victims and their families are also part of the collection.


Books

Copies of these works are shelved in the CSI Library’s Archives & Special Collections in Room 216, unless otherwise noted.

Items shelved in Archives & Special Collections may be accessed through the Archives & Special Collections Reading Room in Room 216 on the Library’s second floor. The Reading Room is generally staffed Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm, when the Library is open.

• Brill, Steven. After: How America Confronted the September 12 Era. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003. 723 pp. Includes source notes and index.
—HV 6432.7 .B75 2003 (Stacks – 3rd Floor)
This narrative documents the daily events of politicians, law enforcement agents, and victims’ family members, among others, in the year following September 11, 2001. The efforts of the recovery operations at Fresh Kills are referenced.

Recovery: The World Trade Center Recovery Operation at Fresh Kills. The New York State Museum, 2003. 40 pp.
– HV 6432.7 .R43 2003
This print catalog accompanies the Fresh Kills Photograph Collection and contains selected photographs from the collection.

• Rozan, S.J. Absent Friends. New York: Delacorte Press, 2004. 367 pp.
– PS 3568 .O99 A64 2004.
A novel about childhood friends from Staten Island and the secret they are hiding; one of the group grows up to be a FDNY lieutenant who loses his life at the World Trade Center on September 11. The notoriety gained by his death on 9/11 threatens to expose his actions and those of his friends from 20 years earlier.

• Svendsen, Erika S. and Lindsay K. Campbell. Land-markings: 12 Journeys through 9/11 Living Memorials. USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station. United States Department of Agriculture, 2006. 48 pp.
– HV 6432.7 .S93 2006 (Stacks – 3rd Floor)
This print companion to the Living Memorials Project provides photographs and descriptions of the Staten Island sites involved in the project.


Collections

The Cal Snyder Photograph Collection

Cal Snyder became interested in 9/11 memorials while photographing war memorials for his book, Out of Fire and Valor (Bunker Hill, 2005). His photograph collection at CSI includes images of all of the war memorials and 9/11 memorials on Staten Island. The 9/11 images are included in Snyder's upcoming book, Raising the Stones and the Words: The 9/11 Memorials of New York.

The Fresh Kills Photograph Collection

New York State Museum curator Mark Schaming was permitted to observe the evidence recovery effort at Fresh Kills Landfill, and request items of interest be released for the museum collection. As an observer, he took hundreds of photographs. Between October 2001 and August 2002 he was at the site almost daily. He returned in April 2002, July 2002, and June 2003 to take panoramic images. These photographs represent the most complete documentation of the evidence recovery effort available to researchers.

The Living Memorials Collection

The Living Memorials Project sponsored by the USDA Forest Service and operated by the Northeastern Research Station provided cost share grants and assistance to two projects on Staten Island: The Garden of Healing in the Staten Island Botanical Garden and The Healing Garden of the Federated Garden Clubs of New York State. Social scientists with the project photographed each memorial and conducted oral history interviews. The collection at CSI includes copies of all of the materials gathered about the Staten Island sites, including transcripts of the interviews.

The September 11th Collection

This artificial collection was formed to bring together materials documenting various aspects of the impact of 9/11 on Staten Island.

Advertisements
These “tribute” advertisements printed in the Staten Island Advance in the first month after 9/11 were paid for by Staten Island businesses expressing grief and offering condolences to fellow Staten Islanders. (Date Range: September 13, 2001 through October 6, 2001)

Memorials

Angel’s Circle
Newspaper articles from around the nation and photographs documenting the origins and development of the site are included in this series.

Mount Manresa Jesuit Retreat House
Photographs, news clippings, and correspondence documenting Mount Manresa’s role in the recovery effort at Fresh Kills as well as the dedication of a memorial cross cut from the steel of the Twin Towers.

P.S. 56
A memorial garden was created in 2003 at this elementary school and commemorated with a plaque through community donations to the school; copy of dedication ceremony program and copy of plaque are included.

Street Name Dedications
As a way of memorializing victims from Staten Island, over 70 streets were dedicated in their names; lists of streets dedicated to victims and their locations are housed in this collection.

United States Post Office
Copies of the scrapbook material USPS employee John Martin used in the creation of this stained glass memorial located at the General Post Office on Manor Road in Staten Island.

World Trade Center Educational Tribute Center and Garden of Healing
Speeches, newspaper articles, and photographs of the Garden and Tribute Center are included in this series.

Memorial Services

Staten Island Academy: The school holds a memorial service each year; a copy of the speech read at this service is included.

Susan E. Wagner High School: Program from the memorial service, an Evening of Remembrance, held on December 6, 2001 to honor the alumni, parents of students, parents of alumni, and family members who died on September 11.

Newspaper Clippings:

Approximately 30 articles from the Staten Island Advance documenting Staten Island’s immediate response to 9/11 and its impact on its residents. (Date Range: September 12, 2001 through October 5, 2001)

The Religious Responses to 9/11 Collection

This attempt to document the response of religious organizations to 9/11 immediately after the event primarily consists of sermons and programs, but also includes fliers, videotape, and memorabilia.

School Projects

I.S. 34: Photographs and description of the stained glass mural and bronze plaque created by students.

P.S. 13: This elementary school donated the patchwork quilt created by students and photographs of other projects expressing students feelings about 9/11.

St. Peter’s Boys High School: Students created poems, interviewed witnesses to the attacks, planted a small garden, and dedicated a bronze plaque to the alumni of the school who were lost on 9/11.Copies of poems and interviews of witnesses; photographs of the garden and plaque are in this series.


Videos

Collateral Damages, Turn of the Century Pictures, 2006 (180 minutes): This film is about the psychological impact 9-11 had on NYC firefighters. In addition to its hour-long feature, Collateral Damages has more than two hours of extensive special features, including never before seen footage of Fresh Kills, the crime scene no one knew about.

P.S. 22 – “The Conference”: Created to help the students of P.S. 22 deal with the events of 9/11 and to help them move forward; documentary clips of the school’s conflict resolution teacher talking with students who had actual September 11 birthdays and also general conversations with students intended to help them cope with the tragedy are included. The DVD and text with description of the project make up this series.

Tribute in Song: This 3-part DVD is a video memorial created by Mr. Johnny Watts for Staten Island’s Community Television. The video depicts images of 9/11 victims and of the World Trade Center site interspersed with clips of Frank Patterson, Ireland’s Golden Tenor. Mr. Patterson’s music is heard throughout the tribute.