On Sunday, Sept. 11, students held a memorial service for the 10th anniversary of the attacks. While most were concerned with the moving content of the service and personal ties and emotions regarding this anniversary, professor Heidi Kolk had a different concern.

“No one was going to record it,” she exclaimed. Kolk’s dismay stemmed from her position as a member of the American Culture Studies faculty and as a leader of the American Lives project.

The American Lives project aims to capture the wide range of stories and experiences that ease understanding of American life and experience. Of chief interest are data relevant to the St. Louis area. Researchers will gather different types of historical information: oral histories, legal documents, newspaper articles and other media.

The project aims to compile these data into a single archive, from which researchers can search for a specific event, person or neighborhood and find a wealth of sources and perspectives documenting the query.

One of the events that American Lives is particularly concerned with is Sept. 11. Kolk pointed out that the general reactions of St. Louis natives, students, professors and other residents have a place in the project alongside firsthand accounts of the events.

“To some extent we are using the anniversary to invite reflections,” Kolk said. “We hope this will inspire us to pursue similar projects in [the] future, and on these occasions for contribution we need to be somewhat more deliberate about seeking out groups of people in St. Louis who have stories to tell.”

Sept. 11 is just one facet of the project. Other topics of interest include “Desegregation of St. Louis Schools,” “The History and Development of the St. Louis Hill Neighborhood,” “The Life and Music of Miles Davis,” “Gay and Lesbian Activities in St. Louis,” “The History of Women’s Studies at Wash. U.” and “Life as a Student at Wash. U.”

Professor Wayne Fields, one of the project’s founders, described its beginnings. “The project began in conjunction with a course co-developed by Professor Henry Berger and the American Culture Studies department called ‘Cracks in the Republic.’” The course dealt with topics related to student unrest in the 1960s and 1970s. A former student who had been incarcerated during the turmoil had been pardoned. He and others involved in the campus protests were invited back to the University and were interviewed by members of Berger’s class.

At that time, the American Culture Studies department was developing an interactive website to aid research. Ideally, students and faculty would enter a subject or specific artifact, and the website would return four or five related items in addition to the original item of interest.

Eventually these two initiatives merged. Students collecting oral histories recorded them into the database. They also digitized and entered related artifacts, such as magazine articles, television interviews and legal documents.

“We soon found the whimsy of finding not only what you were looking for but also things you didn’t know existed—a useful and fun aspect of this approach—and hoped our small effort to model it would encourage others to join us in the effort,” said Fields.

The intersection of the national and local is a key aspect of this project. Understandably, Kolk felt an urge to document the Sept. 11 memorial. It’s nearly impossible to see it as anything other than necessary.

Fields believes the project will also provide unique insight when interpreting the past. “All these particulars could, if webbed together, provide a fuller view, one both more complicated—even contradictory—and subtle than the view a bound textbook can provide.”

If any readers have stories to tell about Sept. 11 or just want to learn more about the project visit http://remembering911.wustl.edu/.