On the 24th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, a vast archive of unseen footage is set to reshape how future generations understand the tragedy.
The New York Public Library has acquired what is believed to be the largest video collection of the attacks and their aftermath, filmed and gathered by documentary makers Steven Rosenbaum and Pamela Yoder.
In the days after the Twin Towers fell, the pair placed an advert in The Village Voice asking New Yorkers with home videos to “contribute to history.” More than 100 people responded, offering shaky footage captured from rooftops, apartments and streets. Together, they amassed more than 500 hours of raw video, much of it unseen for over two decades.
While some clips were used in their 2002 film 7 Days in September, most of the material has never been shown. Alongside the 9/11 archive, the couple is also donating 700 hours of behind-the-scenes recordings documenting the fraught process of building the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
The collection will be available for research at the library in 2027 and fully accessible online by 2030.
Julie Golia, senior curator of manuscripts at the library, described the archive as a “multi-layered time capsule.” She said it preserved not only the attacks themselves but also “the debate about their meaning.”
The footage captures both horror and humanity. One video shows terrified crowds fleeing dust clouds as the towers collapsed. Another depicts children chalking flowers on pavements beside mangled cars. In Union Square, an argument over US foreign policy ends with strangers embracing, saying: “We fight, and then we hug.”
The couple has faced controversy before. In 2021, they clashed with the 9/11 Museum over their documentary The Outsider, which accused the institution of softening political debates surrounding the attacks and the war on terror, reported New York Times.
The museum called the film “disrespectful,” but Rosenbaum and Yoder refused to cut scenes.
Now, they say the archive is finally in safe hands.
“My hope is that what will come of it will be a total shock to us.”
As America reflects 24 years on, the archive offers a rare bridge between personal memory and collective history, an analogue record in an age of digital oversaturation.
The story 24 years on: Unseen 9/11 video archive unveiled in New York (video) as seen on Thaiger News.
