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 During
the past year, the curators of the Prints and Photographs Division
have been engaged in an intense and highly focused campaign to
collect a broad range of pictorial images that both factually
document and creatively interpret the terrible events of September
11, 2001. The division’s goal was to build a visual archive
that, spanning all collection formats, would, for posterity’s
sake, accurately represent the nature and scope of artistic expressions
prompted by the terrorist attacks on America.
These acquisitions reveal not only
the wide-ranging approaches taken by creative individuals to documenting
and interpreting the events that occurred on September 11, 2001,
and the feelings they aroused, but the commitment of the curatorial
staff in ensuring that such works remain a vital component of
the historical record preserved in the Library of Congress. Looking
back, the Division’s still-growing 9/11 archive is not unlike
the great collection of Depression-era Farm Security Administration
photographs that captured the strength and resilience of the American
people in times of duress.
Documentary Photographs
In December 2001, an extraordinary
display of some 250 color images of "ground zero" taken during
and immediately after the attacks by twenty local news photographers
opened at the Bolivar Arellano Gallery in New York. Although a
handful of the images taken have appeared in newspapers and magazines,
the vast majority of these works were unpublished. A news photographer
himself, Arellano opened his small exhibit space specifically
to display the 9/11 photos of his friends and colleagues, as well
as his own. All wanted their work to bear public witness to the
shocking tragedy--the biggest story they would ever cover--as
well as to honor the dead and the actions of the living. The 126
riveting images selected for the Library's collection reveal photojournalism
at its best.
As the curators continuously reviewed
the Division's growing archive, they realized that important images
were missing. While scores of photographers had documented the
destruction of the World Trade Center, few were on hand when the
Pentagon was attacked, or when highjacked Flight 93 crashed in
a rural field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Intent on filling
gaps, Division curators viewed several dramatic, eye-witness shots
of the Pentagon taken by a local amateur photographer, Daryl Donley.
An administrator at the National Symphony Orchestra, he had been
caught in a traffic jam directly opposite the building. The doomed
passenger jet passed directly over his car before exploding in
a fireball inside the immense office complex. After recovering
from his initial shock, Donley reached for his camera and took
a unique series of photographs of the burning structure immediately
following the impact. Tracking him down, the resourceful photo
curators arranged to acquire a selection of his extraordinary
views.
To obtain needed images from Shanksville,
curators contacted newspapers, the local volunteer fire department,
and even the rural electric cooperative, eventually locating several
independent and amateur photographers who had documented the crash
site, the activities of Red Cross and other volunteer workers,
and the memorials to the victims that had spontaneously appeared.
From online databases, curators also identified relevant Shanksville
and Pentagon images from photographers employed by Associated
Press, Reuters, and the Knight-Ridder Syndicate and obtained additional
images for the collection.
Link to: Documentary Photographs
Gallery
Exit Art
 Exit
Art, an alternative gallery space in New York City, mounted Reactions:
A Global Response to the 9/11 Attacks, in January 2002.
Recognizing that people everywhere had an urgent need to freely
communicate their feelings publicly, the staff had sent out a
worldwide appeal by letter and e-mail for individuals to send
in creative responses. There was one simple criterion: each work
had to be sized 8 1/2 x 11 inches. 2,443 pieces went on view,
hanging densely in rows from wires strung across the gallery.
They included heart-felt and highly personal creations: drawings,
paintings, photographs, collages, letters, digital prints, poems,
and graphic designs--with sophisticated work by internationally
recognized artists hung side-by-side with drawings by children.
The Prints and Photographs Division acquired the entire archive,
representative examples of which are on view here. This collection
reveals a wide variety of social, cultural, and emotional reactions
to the terrorist attacks, the same-sized works expressed strong
feelings--grief, fear, anger, hope, patriotism, even strong antiwar
sentiment. (Photo courtesy of Exit Art, New York)
Link to: Exit Art
 Max
Protetch Gallery
In early 2002 an unconventional exhibition opened in New
York, A New World Trade Center: Design Proposals.
In collaboration with the editors of Architectural Record,
gallery owner Max Protetch had invited more than 100 architects
worldwide to submit proposals for the redevelopment of the twin
towers site. Sixty, including many internationally acclaimed practitioners
in the field, sent sets of drawings, models, and photographs,
as well as state-of-the-art electronic and digital presentations
of their ideas. Freed from practical, real-world constraints imposed
by clients, and incorporating radically different technological,
economic, social, and philosophical approaches, the proposals
were highly creative and forward looking. The Library is acquiring
the entire archive. In its totality, the work provides a remarkable
"snapshot" of advanced architectural thinking at the beginning
of the twenty-first century.
Link to: Max Protetch Gallery
Comic Book Art and Political Cartoons
 The
comic book is a powerful and compelling storytelling medium, and,
in the aftermath of September 11, illustrators were among the
first artists to respond to the terrorist attacks. In an unprecedented
action, a coalition of publishers, writers, and illustrators quickly
joined forces to produce a remarkable, two-volume anthology, September
11: The World's Finest Comic Book Writers and Artists Tell Stories
to Remember. The editors and publishers of these books,
as well as another graphic publication, World War III Illustrated,
were contacted by Prints and Photographs Division curators to
inquire about possible acquisitions. All were highly enthusiastic
and in turn contacted the artists who, in a remarkable display
of generosity and unity, donated 335 original drawings to the
Library.
In addition, curators identified
specific editorial cartoons and illustrations for the collection,
including the work of Ann Telnaes, Tony Auth, Kevin Kallaugher,
Jeff Danziger, Garry Trudeau, and the team of Maira Kalman and
Rick Meyerowitz. These artists convey thoughtful observations
on eroded tolerance for varied political and religious convictions
and capture the tragedies' destruction and violence.
Link to: Comic Book Art and Political
Cartoons Gallery
Posters
 In
the field of posters and related graphic design, a variety of
New York artists produced works intended to boost spirits and
heal emotions in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack.
For a collaborative project entitled "Time to Consider: The
Arts Respond to 9/11," poets, architects, artists, and designers
submitted one hundred designs. Four were finally selected for
printing and were distributed all over the city. In addition,
five compelling 9/11-related poster designs in the annual springtime
Communications Graphics Show, sponsored by the American Institute
of Graphic, entered the Library's collections as gifts.
In late October 2001, a series
of ten, full-page photo essays were published in USA Today entitled
"Courageous Americans." Sponsored by the Burger King
Corporation, they featured stark, black and white portraits of
rescue personnel taken by famed New York photographer Richard
Avedon, along with short descriptions of their personal courage.
Burger King Corporation donated a unique set of photo essays,
printed as a suite of posters especially for the Library.
Link to: Posters Gallery
 Fine
Arts
Fine artists were slower to respond
creatively than illustrators and graphic designers, but an exhibition
presented in early 2002 by Meridian International Center in Washington,
D. C., True Colors: Meditations on the American Spirit
as well as Artists Respond: September 11, staged
at the Rockville (MD) Arts Place, provided a source of new acquisitions.
Two memorial print portfolios that were added to the collection
are 9/11. Fear, Fate, Faith by students and faculty
at the Corcoran School of Art and Design and September 11th,
published by artist members of New York's Manhattan Graphics Center.
In all, eighty-three artists' prints and drawings were acquired,
many by gift. The majority of these artists had created their
work not for the art market, but out of an inner need to express
and allay their own personal feelings of anguish, mourning, and
disbelief.
Link to: Fine Arts Gallery
Fragments
Photographer Carol Highsmith unexpectedly
donated to the Library a stunning panoramic photograph she took
of lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center from a helicopter
on a clear day in early August 2001. Highsmith also put the Prints
and Photographs Division in touch with company officials in charge
of recycling the steel from ground zero. For the Library's exhibition,
they specially saved the last burned and crushed fragments of
structural steel and metal cladding from the World Trade Center.
A strong supporter of the Library, the energetic photographer
also helped to arrange for another gift--a piece of limestone
torn from the Pentagon. On display in the exhibition, these artifacts
are tangible records of the physical devastation suffered on September
11, 2001.
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