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New
Website Captures 9/11 Memories
The
National Park Service (NPS) launched a website today that features an
"on-line" exhibit. Titled 9/11/01 The Meaning Of National Parks
in Times of Crises, the site provides access to personal accounts of park
visitors and employees both on and following the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001. The site--whose address is www.nps.gov/remembrance--also
invites its virtual visitors to comment on their current reflections about
the value of National Parks in their lives today.
The
site features some 20 interviews from an NPS oral history project that
recorded the experiences and perspectives of employees who responded to
the attacks and their aftermath at 12 sites in New York, Washington and
around the country. In announcing the new website, NPS director Fran
Mainella stated, "The National Park Service and our partners, the
National Park Foundation and Eastern National want everyone to explore the
memories of our workers and visitors -- and add personal comments and
reactions."
"These
parks and their people, the rangers, gardeners, police, secretaries, and
more, will always carry the memory of September 11. Our visitors, at parks
both near and far have shared their ideas of why and how they value the
parks and the people who serve them. The message of September 11 is not
only of loss. September 11 speaks of courage, determination and
perseverance," she said.
The
design and creation of the on-line exhibit is made possible through a
grant from The National Park Foundation (NPF) to the Recovery and
Remembrance Fund (Fund). "As we all continue to deal with our grief
from the tragedy of September 11 in different ways, it is helpful to
remember that National Parks can serve as special places for solitude,
reflection and comfort," said Jim Maddy, president of the National
Park Foundation. ""Now more than ever, National Parks have a
special role to play in our lives, and connecting Americans to these
special places through this web site is a role the National Park
Foundation is pleased to play."
In
addition to the web site, the Fund has underwritten the collection of the
website’s featured material, including the oral history project. It is
managed by Eastern National, a nonprofit educational organization serving
America's national parks and other public trusts. "Soon after 9/11,
it was apparent that NPS staff and
visitors had been deeply affected by what happened," said Eastern
National President Chesley Moroz. "We established the Recovery and
Remembrance Fund to document the oral histories of the park employees who
witnessed and have supported the 9-11-01 recovery efforts and to create
educational programs about the September 11th events and the involvement
of national parks. Thanks to the generosity of the National Park
Foundation and a number of organizations and individuals, we are pleased
that the Fund was able to underwrite this important project," she
said.
Featured
parks include Federal Hall National Memorial, which on 9/11/01 served as a
safe haven for some 250 people fleeing from the falling debris and choking
dust caused by the collapse of the World Trade Center. Others are: The
Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Gateway in New York City; parks of
metropolitan Washington, D.C.; Western Pennsylvania area parks; Fort
McHenry (MD); Independence (PA); Shenandoah (VA); Mount Rainier (WA);
Manzanar (CA); Yosemite (CA); and Golden Gate (CA).
Visitors
to the website experience the ways these national park areas and their
staffs and visitors responded to the events of 9/11 and its aftermath. The
project also documents visitors talking about their sense of a heightened
value of parks since the attacks. The website links to a number of related
sites including the Official Flight 93 Website, The September 11 Digital
Archive, and Museums Celebrate America's Freedoms.
The
site uses the impact of the medium to present sound, video, and static
displays. s2n Media of New York, which has done website development for a
wide range of commercial and government clients, including the Smithsonian
and the National Science Foundation, was contracted to create the site.
The design team has obtained permission to incorporate post 9-11 news
footage of parks and visitors from disparate places throughout the
National Park System.
The
NPS considers the website a work in progress and hopes that visitors will
be inspired to share their stories and comments in the Remembrance section
of the site. The goal is to allow people from around the United States and
the world to contribute to the project and to incorporate their
contributions into future exhibits and publications.
-NPS-
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