Next month marks the twentieth anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001. In November, it will be two decades since the initial conversations which resulted in the creation of this archive. Since then, this site has gone through multiple redesigns and has served as a model for countless digital collection projects worldwide.

We have been open to contributions since the site first launched in 2002. In addition to individual contributions, we have received collections of materials from organizations or groups, like NPR’s Sonic Memorial Project and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History exhibit “September 11: Bearing Witness to History.” To date, the 9/11 Digital Archive contains over 98,000 items. 

After thoughtful consideration and discussion, we have decided to close the collecting portal in October 2021. Twenty years is a significant period of time — there are college students today who were not even born in 2001 —and we feel that it is appropriate to transition this from an active collecting project to an archive of materials for study and reflection.

We know that some of you may wish to make a final contribution to the archive, either with materials from the original event or something which reflects the impact those events have had on your life since. We are leaving the collecting portal open until October 1st. 

The contents of the archive will continue to be available as they are now. RRCHNM is committed to sustaining the project in cooperation with our project partners. 

As always, we thank our project partners and funders, past and present. In particular, we want to thank everyone who has donated to the archive at any time.