To commemorate the tenth Anniversary of 9/11 we bring you the Peabody Award-winning Sonic Memorial Project, narrated by New York writer Paul Auster. The Sonic Memorial Project is an intimate and historic documentary commemorating the life and history of The World Trade Center and its surrounding neighborhood, through audio artifacts, rare recordings, voicemail messages and interviews. 

Ten years ago, in the months following 9/11, a collaboration of producers, listeners and public radio stations across the nation came together to create a Sonic Memorial to the people and history of the World Trade Center. We opened up a phone line at NPR and asked people to share their stories. We put out the call for audio artifacts that captured the sounds and voices of the World Trade Center neighborhood. Some thousand people called in creating a remarkable archive of personal recordings and remembrances. From this material and hundreds of hours of interviews and archival recordings gathered by producers around the country The Sonic Memorial Project was crafted.

Artists, bankers, office staff, elevator and maintenance workers—each tower had a thousand sounds; every floor had a thousand stories. The Sonic Memorial Project gathers some of these in a reflection and richly textured document of this moment in our history. We hear from the architect and engineer of the Towers, the piano player from Windows on the World, aerialist Philippe Petit who walked on a high-wire between the buildings 105 floors up. We hear from artists who had studios in the World Trade Center, creators of music and soundscapes based on recordings from the Towers. We hear the stories and remembrances of some of the many who died. 

The Sonic Memorial Project also features stories that focus on little known aspects of the life and history of the World Trade Center and surrounding neighborhood, including Radio Row: The Neighborhood Before The WTC, the district of electronic shops displaced by the building of the WTC. The Building Stewardesses: Construction Guides at The WTC and Other Little Known Tales of The Creation of The Towers 1968-1971: stories of the politics and public opinion surrounding the Towers are told by the man who masterminded the construction of the buildings and by the young college co-ed construction guides he hired to educate the public and put a friendly face on the project.  

The Sonic Memorial Project was produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva) in collaboration with NPR, independent radio producers, writers, archivists, historians and public radio listeners throughout the country.

To commemorate the tenth Anniversary of 9/11 we bring you the Peabody Award-winning Sonic Memorial Project, narrated by New York writer Paul Auster. The Sonic Memorial Project is an intimate and historic documentary commemorating the life and history of The World Trade Center and its surrounding neighborhood, through audio artifacts, rare recordings, voicemail messages and interviews. 

Ten years ago, in the months following 9/11, a collaboration of producers, listeners and public radio stations across the nation came together to create a Sonic Memorial to the people and history of the World Trade Center. We opened up a phone line at NPR and asked people to share their stories. We put out the call for audio artifacts that captured the sounds and voices of the World Trade Center neighborhood. Some thousand people called in creating a remarkable archive of personal recordings and remembrances. From this material and hundreds of hours of interviews and archival recordings gathered by producers around the country The Sonic Memorial Project was crafted.

Artists, bankers, office staff, elevator and maintenance workers—each tower had a thousand sounds; every floor had a thousand stories. The Sonic Memorial Project gathers some of these in a reflection and richly textured document of this moment in our history. We hear from the architect and engineer of the Towers, the piano player from Windows on the World, aerialist Philippe Petit who walked on a high-wire between the buildings 105 floors up. We hear from artists who had studios in the World Trade Center, creators of music and soundscapes based on recordings from the Towers. We hear the stories and remembrances of some of the many who died. 

The Sonic Memorial Project also features stories that focus on little known aspects of the life and history of the World Trade Center and surrounding neighborhood, including Radio Row: The Neighborhood Before The WTC, the district of electronic shops displaced by the building of the WTC. The Building Stewardesses: Construction Guides at The WTC and Other Little Known Tales of The Creation of The Towers 1968-1971: stories of the politics and public opinion surrounding the Towers are told by the man who masterminded the construction of the buildings and by the young college co-ed construction guides he hired to educate the public and put a friendly face on the project.  

The Sonic Memorial Project was produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva) in collaboration with NPR, independent radio producers, writers, archivists, historians and public radio listeners throughout the country.

To commemorate the tenth Anniversary of 9/11 we bring you the Peabody Award-winning Sonic Memorial Project, narrated by New York writer Paul Auster. The Sonic Memorial Project is an intimate and historic documentary commemorating the life and history of The World Trade Center and its surrounding neighborhood, through audio artifacts, rare recordings, voicemail messages and interviews. 

Ten years ago, in the months following 9/11, a collaboration of producers, listeners and public radio stations across the nation came together to create a Sonic Memorial to the people and history of the World Trade Center. We opened up a phone line at NPR and asked people to share their stories. We put out the call for audio artifacts that captured the sounds and voices of the World Trade Center neighborhood. Some thousand people called in creating a remarkable archive of personal recordings and remembrances. From this material and hundreds of hours of interviews and archival recordings gathered by producers around the country The Sonic Memorial Project was crafted.

Artists, bankers, office staff, elevator and maintenance workers—each tower had a thousand sounds; every floor had a thousand stories. The Sonic Memorial Project gathers some of these in a reflection and richly textured document of this moment in our history. We hear from the architect and engineer of the Towers, the piano player from Windows on the World, aerialist Philippe Petit who walked on a high-wire between the buildings 105 floors up. We hear from artists who had studios in the World Trade Center, creators of music and soundscapes based on recordings from the Towers. We hear the stories and remembrances of some of the many who died. 

The Sonic Memorial Project also features stories that focus on little known aspects of the life and history of the World Trade Center and surrounding neighborhood, including Radio Row: The Neighborhood Before The WTC, the district of electronic shops displaced by the building of the WTC. The Building Stewardesses: Construction Guides at The WTC and Other Little Known Tales of The Creation of The Towers 1968-1971: stories of the politics and public opinion surrounding the Towers are told by the man who masterminded the construction of the buildings and by the young college co-ed construction guides he hired to educate the public and put a friendly face on the project.  

The Sonic Memorial Project was produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva) in collaboration with NPR, independent radio producers, writers, archivists, historians and public radio listeners throughout the country.