New York April 30, 2014 – The National September 11 Memorial & Museum today unveiled an online registry system that creates a historical record of survival, rescue, recovery and commemoration surrounding the 9/11 attacks and the World Trade Center bombing of 1993.
The 9/11 Memorial Registries, engineered by global technology and design company Infusion, allow participants to share firsthand testimonials as 9/11 or 1993 survivors and witnesses or as 9/11 rescue and recovery workers. The user-generated database also tracks and invites submissions of pictures and information about 9/11 memorials worldwide. The development of the registries was sponsored by Microsoft and powered by Microsoft Azure.
Explore the 9/11 Memorial Registries now at registries.911memorial.org.
“The 9/11 Memorial Registries are an innovative way for survivors and rescue and recovery workers to share their powerful stories with people around the world,” 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels said. “Thank you to Infusion and Microsoft for helping this organization develop a unique web experience that captures this important history through the perspectives of those men and women who lived through it.”
When the 9/11 Memorial Museum opens May 21, visitors will also be able to experience the registries in Foundation Hall, a vast space that houses the slurry wall and the Last Column, the last steel beam to be removed at the end of the recovery operations at Ground Zero. Visitors can access the registries by using touchscreens available on benches throughout the hall.
“The 9/11 Memorial Registries remind us of people coming together-surviving, recovering, and remembering,” said 9/11 Memorial Museum Director Alice M. Greenwald. “By contributing to this archive, in the Museum or from home, our visitors join us in creating a historical record and virtual community that respects personal stories of bravery and perseverance as we continue to remember the lives lost.”
“We were a small company in 2001 and the majority of us were at the World Trade Center that day. Thankfully everyone made it out safely, but we have always carried that memory,” said Greg Brill, CEO of Infusion. “As the events of 9/11 hold enormous personal significance for our entire team, we were exceptionally grateful for the opportunity to help create this unique online community that honors the heroic stories of the individuals impacted by these events.”
There are three registries.
The Rescue and Recovery Workers Registry documents stories about the rescue, recovery, investigation, cleanup and relief efforts after 9/11 at the World Trade Center site, Fresh Kills landfill, the Pentagon and the Flight 93 crash site near Shanksville, Pa. It also provides the names of registered rescue and recovery workers for the Scroll of Honor within the Museum, which lists all of the workers, living or dead. The digital scroll is next to the Last Column. For rescue and recovery workers registered with the 9/11 Memorial, admission is free to the Museum.
Like other rescue and recovery workers, John Feal logged his information into the online registry. Feal was injured while he and his construction demolition team joined the cleanup and recovery at Ground Zero. His left foot was crushed by steel weighing about four tons.
“The unparalleled stories of the everyday men and women who became rescue and recovery workers in a time our city needed them most should be forever preserved for all to experience,” said Feal, the founder and president of the FealGood Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for first responders and rescue and recovery workers. “That is especially true for all of those heroes who died responding to the attacks and those sickened who we continue to lose today. All of their stories need to be heard.”
The Witnesses and Survivors Registry documents the experiences of those who survived or witnessed the 9/11 attacks and the World Trade Center bombing on February 26, 1993. Locations of registered witnesses and survivors are shown graphically in lower Manhattan and at the Pentagon.
The Witnesses and Survivors Registry allowed Richard Zimbler, president of the World Trade Center Survivors’ Network, to recount how he survived the planes striking the buildings and their ultimate collapse.
“Survivors are stewards of the living history of 9/11. What we did and saw that day are stories of great interest that need to be told and added to the historical record,” Zimbler said. “Maybe even more importantly, the registry provides survivors with an opportunity to fulfill what many feel is an obligation – the duty to bear witness to what we saw that day.”
The Memorials Registry tracks 9/11 memorials around the world, from Africa to Israel and New Zealand to the Czech Republic. It is a testament to the global impact of 9/11 and shows the ways in which communities have commemorated the victims and how they remember the attacks.
Users may add photographs and documents related to a specific memorial, which is displayed on an interactive map.
About The National September 11 Memorial & Museum
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is the not-for-profit corporation created to oversee the design, fundraising, programming and operations of the Memorial and Museum. The Memorial and Museum are located on eight of the 16 acres of the World Trade Center site.
The Memorial remembers and honors the 2,983 people who were killed in the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. The design, created by Michael Arad and Peter Walker, consists of two reflecting pools formed in the footprints of the original Twin Towers and a plaza of trees. The Museum displays monumental artifacts linked to the events of 9/11, while presenting intimate stories of loss, compassion, reckoning and recovery that are central to telling the story of the 2001 and 1993 attacks and the aftermath. It also explores the global impact of 9/11 and its continuing significance. Davis Brody Bond are the architects of the belowground Museum and Snøhetta designed its entry pavilion. The Museum’s exhibition designers include Thinc, Local Projects and Layman Design.
For more information or to reserve a ticket to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, go to 911memorial.org.
