The CameraPlanet Archive was born in the aftermath of catastrophe. In the days following September 11, filmmaker Steven Rosenbaum asked New Yorkers to share their footage. The response was overwhelming. What emerged was a decentralized, deeply personal record of that day and the weeks after—unfiltered, unedited, and real.
What’s Inside: 500 Hours of Citizen Footage
The individuals below are just a few of the many voices represented. In total, more than 140 filmmakers and footage contributors helped build this archive. What you see here is a small sample—representative, not comprehensive.
“A City Within a City”
Union Square: Vigils & Voices
“Should I Call Someone?”
Biking Into the Cloud
Darkness & Firefighters
Crowds Giving Thanks
From Handheld Tapes to Historic Record
- 2001 – Archive begins after public call for footage
- 2002 – Seven Days in September documentary
- 2005 – Collection surpasses 500 hours
- 2009 – Donated to the 9/11 Museum
- Now – Digitally preserved, selectively accessible
A Digital Flame—Searchable and Secure
The archive contains over 500 tapes and a searchable log, allowing users to locate footage by keyword or theme—“Union Square,” “PATH Station,” “candlelight vigil.” Low-resolution previews remain online, but the full high-res versions are protected and accessible only by request.
Request AccessWhy It Still Matters
“They contain things that we don’t know, right now, that we need to know… But we know they need to be preserved.” — Steven Rosenbaum
This archive isn’t just a collection of footage. It’s a public trust. It captures how people saw the unimaginable—and how they responded. As the years pass and memories fade, these recordings remain. Real, raw, and full of meaning still waiting to be uncovered.
A Tool for the Next Generation of Historians
Researchers are now exploring how to integrate the CameraPlanet Archive with AI tools for historical search and analysis. It’s already being studied as a template for future data preservation—how to manage massive, decentralized, emotional, visual archives in an era of digital memory overload.
“The scholars of the future will have an overwhelming task… this collection could be the blueprint.” — Orville Vernon Burton, Univ. of Illinois
Memory is Fragile. But It’s Also Shared.
If you’re an educator, historian, or filmmaker working to preserve or explore 9/11 memory, we want to hear from you.