Online database of photos reflect on 9/11 aftermath

Tributes dedicated to the victims of 9/11 appeared all over New York City in the weeks and months following the attacks.  Photographs of these sites, like the ones taken above by Sylvie Ball, are now part of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum’s Make History online archive.

Make History is a collective telling of the events of 9/11 through the eyes of those who experienced it, both at the attack sites and around the world.

Ball has contributed many of the photographs she took in the aftermath of Sept. 11 to the online database.  Many of her photos reflect the remembrance of the victims and the makeshift memorials honoring them. 

"On Sunday [Sept. 16], I went to Union Square with friends and photographed many temporary shrines comprised of flowers and candles set up throughout the park," said Ball in her submission statement.  "Musicians and prayer groups mingled with onlookers as people tried to cope with loss, express their grief, pray for the lost and pay tribute to the twin towers that were so brutally taken from us."

Visitors to the Make History site can download their own pictures, videos and stories about 9/11 and the impact it had globally. The Make History archive currently contains more than 1,000 photographs and 300 stories. 

Image (left): Flowers, candles and flags surround a poster that reads "We the People." (Photo by Sylvie Ball)

By Meghan Walsh, Communications Associate for the 9/11 Memorial