Record an oral history at the StoryCorps booth in the WTC PATH terminal

From stories of lost family members to personal accounts of survival, visitors to the World Trade Center site will have an opportunity to record their memories of September 11 and the 1993 bombing as StoryCorps, the acclaimed oral history project, opened a recording booth in the WTC PATH station on July 12.

"We need to make sure the story of loved ones lost is not forgotten," Gov. George Pataki said at the June 16 news conference held at the temporary WTC PATH station. "The StoryCorps booth will also provide an opportunity to visitors, residents, and all those who wish to share their memories and thoughts on September 11."

The StoryCorps booth is one of two interim memorial projects planned for the site, each sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC). The other -- the Tribute Center -- will provide information and a place for reflection until the permanent memorial, "Reflecting Absence," is completed in 2009. It is a project of the nonprofit September 11^th Widows and Victims Families' Association. The center, which will include a gallery, exhibits, and educational programs, will be housed at 120 Liberty Street and is scheduled to open by next March. Ground was broken on the 6,000-square-foot space the day of the governor's announcement. Plans also include walking tours around the World Trade Center site conducted by Tribute Docents beginning in November.

The Tribute Center will provide information and a place for reflection until the permanent memorial, "Reflecting Absence," is completed in 2009

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation provided $500,000 in funding to StoryCorps and up to $3 million to the Tribute Center. The LMDC has also sponsored other initiatives focused on remembering those lost on September 11, including the creation of the Family Room at 1 Liberty Plaza, the Sphere at Battery Park, and the Living Memorial, an Internet-based portal of reflection.

The WTC StoryCorps booth, which the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey provided the space for, will be the second free-standing recording studio opened by StoryCorps. Its first booth opened in New York's Grand Central Terminal in October 2003.

At the booth, a trained facilitator helps participants create an interview question list and handle the technical aspects of the recording. At the end of a 40-minute session, they are given a CD of their interview. With participants' permission, a second copy will be sent to the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress, where it will be preserved for generations to come. With 2,000 stories already collected from the project's first year, StoryCorps is the largest oral history project ever undertaken and will collect more than 250,000 interviews over the next ten years.

Related Links