Who to give Manhattan bridge crowd photos I took on 9/11

September 8, 2021 10:29 PM

I don't know why, but I walked across the bridge, against a flow of people leaving Manhattan. I don't know what to do with the pictures. It seems like I probably have images of people that might mean something to someone? Or maybe they're just tragedy, and of no real purpose or use.
posted by Jack Karaoke to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

maybe see if the 9/11 museum would be interested?
posted by oceano at 10:33 PM on September 8, 2021

Response by poster: That's my only idea so far really. I suspect they'll be put in an archive and maybe serve a purpose someday. But I don't even know if they would notify anyone that there have been new additions.

I guess I wonder if there's any other purpose even. If I have the last photo of someone, surely their relatives have come to peace and don't need such a trauma filled picture.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 10:51 PM on September 8, 2021

Best answer: I used to work at the 9/11 Memorial Museum, in the Collections department. Disclaimer: it's been 5 years since I left. You can certainly offer them the photos, the procedure is outlined here. Whether they accept them will be down to a lot of different factors - they are a lot more likely to accept if the photos show a unique perspective (i.e. if they are taken at a time or place that the Museum doesn't already have a million other shots of), if they are visually interesting, if they are particularly good condition prints or hi-res digital. It's a huge collection with a LOT of photos already (and like all museums, accepting items into the collection comes with conservation and storage costs, even digital storage), so it's hard to say.

If they did end up in the Museum's collection, they might be used in different ways, digitally or physically (you would always be credited and, unless things have changed since I worked there, the Collections team would make a good effort to notify you that your pictures were going to be on display, you can keep your contact details up to date). At least when I was there, they were always trying to digitize more of the collection and get it on the website, so at some point your images might be able to end up there and be accessible for everyone to see.

But it sounds like what you are asking is whether the people in the photos can be identified and their families notified? I can tell you that is something the Museum will absolutely not try to do as a matter of course - they only might if a member of staff happens to recognize someone and knows that their family is open to that sort of communication, which is improbable but not impossible. Honestly, you might have the best luck on Reddit or Facebook - those wide-reaching social media sites have come up trumps at identifying people from photographs before. Whether you want to do that, from a privacy/moral standpoint, it is up to you. Just from my personal experience talking to 9/11 family members when I worked at the Museum, there are certainly people who are very interested in seeing images of their loved ones from the day, but there are also people who want nothing to do with that sort of thing and would find it very painful.
posted by cpatterson at 12:18 AM on September 9, 2021 [24 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you so much for the background info. Yes, I had thought of a Reddit post, but had reservations related to that variance in how they could affect people.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 2:00 AM on September 9, 2021

Perhaps contact one or more 9/11 survivor support groups? They may have internal forums where things like this are discussed.
posted by praemunire at 8:32 AM on September 9, 2021

I think you should post them all on a personal 9-11 web page you should create, to share them with anybody interested in the events of that day. Wouldn't be any privacy issues with photos of pedestrians outside, on a bridge. And if they're walking, able-bodied, doesn't sound like you have 'last photos' of anyone.
posted by Rash at 8:44 AM on September 9, 2021 [4 favorites]

If I have the last photo of someone,

This seems quite unlikely to me. If you took photos of people leaving Manhattan on 9/11, they were survivors. This probably wasn't the last photo of those folks. Most people who died perished immediately that day and never had a chance to walk back home over a bridge.

Would it still be of interest? Possibly. But I think the idea of posting them on a personal page ("My 9/11 photos") or perhaps on Flickr with the appropriate tags, would be the best way to put it where interested people could discover it.
posted by Miko at 8:48 PM on September 9, 2021 [3 favorites]

There is one person that disappeared on that day that was not in the buildings. The think she may have run to help but they never found a trace of her and are not sure if she survived. That said if this person was crossig the bridge with the intent to start a new life or run away then maybe they shouldn't be published. But the family night want to see. Basically the photos night show something of interest to someone. I agree an album in Flickr or something like that might be the best bet.
posted by Dimes at 1:13 AM on September 11, 2021 [1 favorite]

If the Memorial Museum doesn't pan out, I always recommend the most appropriate historical society. You start with a phone call query for the best archivist to talk to, and go from there.
posted by RedEmma at 1:56 PM on September 11, 2021

There’s also Museum of the City of NY. But don’t feel bad if they decline. As cpatterson said above, museums can’t take everything and they have rigorous collecting policies. Many already have abundant amounts of material on their subject matter. It’s worth a try, but manage expectations.
posted by Miko at 8:01 AM on September 12, 2021

Since it was on the manhattan bridge you could try Brooklyn Historical too.
posted by Miko at 8:01 AM on September 12, 2021