This morning I was looking for a 9/11 thing I'd kept. My li'l collection is preserved in a plastic bin in my closet. I just quickly looked through it for one item, and was astounded at how much was there that I never would have remembered these 24 years later.
I'd bought a few newspapers on my way home from the office when they closed it around noon. Or maybe it was the next day that I started on this, I'd have to go through them to see what editions they are. But I quickly decided to preserve those and a few other artifacts of the day, and I - thank the universe - had the presence of mind to buy and store a few complete local newspapers and the NY Times, the major news magazines and some other publications, that week's TV Guide (I didn't even remember that), and I later bought the 9/11 commission report in book form, and a few other books commemorating the twin towers.
The one single thing I always regretted not grabbing right away, because it sold out immediately, was The New Yorker with the black cover.
It's not a HUGE collection. The newspaper stack is only 4" or 5" deep. But I should go through it and catalog what I have. It's also a testament to the argument that our newspaper legacy must be preserved in its original form, not just on ancient microfiche, because - get ready for it - newsprint doesn't break down and decompose when stored in a relatively airtight manner like this, or when the papers were bound in huge volumes for libraries. I open this bin 24 years later, and everything smells FRESH.
