Mission:
The September 11 Digital Archive uses electronic media to collect, preserve, and present the history of the terrorist attacks in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and the public responses to them. The archive is working with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, the Museum of the City of New York, New-York Historical Society, City Lore, and other local and national institutions.

Purpose of Site:
To collect and publish individuals' stories, e-mails, and images related to the events of September 11, 2001. Materials gathered on the site will be used to create a permanent record and provide historical context for understanding the terrorist attacks and their consequences. The Digital Archive will also be examined as a way of assessing how history is being recorded and preserved in the twenty-first century.

Background:
In the hours and days following the attacks, more than 100 million Americans sent or received e-mails expressing support, grief, and shock, while thousands of stories and recollections were documented on Web sites or through other digital media. The September 11 Digital Archive Project, a partnership between the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University and the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning at the City University of New York's Graduate Center, was established to preserve the public's response to the attacks with a Web site where people can record their experiences and/or save e-mails generated or received in the days and weeks following September 11. The project is funded by a major grant from the New York City-based Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Home Page:
The home page of the Digital Archive greets visitors with a brief message about its mission and purpose over an image of Lower Manhattan on that day. Along the left side of the page are links to the main areas of the site: Stories, E-Mail Repository, Image Repository, Special Collections, Guide to Websites, and About the Archive.

Outstanding Feature:
The Digital Archive invites everyone to tell his or her story about September 11 and makes it clear that all stories are welcome, whether or not they take place near the attacks or are particularly heroic or harrowing. The Add Your Story link asks users where they were on September 11 and provides a place for them to tell what they did, saw, or heard that day. Contributors, who receive an e-mail confirmation that includes a copy of their story, can elect to make their story public on the Web site or private.

Currently, the site holds 2,020 stories, and 1,130 of them are public. Visitors to the site can browse the first few lines of the stories and click on them to view the entire account. The stories section also includes a keyword search box. The Digital Archive also accepts three-minute audio versions of stories at its toll-free phone lines: (877) 579-1100 for English speakers and (877) 885-8657 for Spanish.

Honorable Mention:
The site also serves as a repository for e-mail that was sent or received on September 11. E-mails are submitted in the same way as stories, and the site currently holds 705 e-mails, including 459 that are public. Users can browse and search the publicly available e-mails.