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<item xmlns="http://omeka.org/schemas/omeka-xml/v5" itemId="43321" public="1" featured="0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://omeka.org/schemas/omeka-xml/v5 http://omeka.org/schemas/omeka-xml/v5/omeka-xml-5-0.xsd" uri="https://www.911digitalarchive.org/items/show/43321?output=omeka-xml" accessDate="2026-05-04T14:37:40-04:00">
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        <name>Dublin Core</name>
        <description>The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.</description>
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          <element elementId="50">
            <name>Title</name>
            <description>A name given to the resource</description>
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              <elementText elementTextId="513795">
                <text>"September 11: Bearing Witness to History" Stories Submitted Online</text>
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          <element elementId="41">
            <name>Description</name>
            <description>An account of the resource</description>
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              <elementText elementTextId="513796">
                <text>Visitors to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History's, "Bearing Witness to History" online exhibition submitted these reflections beginning in 2002.</text>
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  <itemType itemTypeId="26">
    <name>NMAH Story</name>
    <description/>
    <elementContainer>
      <element elementId="99">
        <name>NMAH Story: Story</name>
        <description>How did you witness history on September 11th? Share your experience.</description>
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          <elementText elementTextId="562506">
            <text>I can remember it was a beautiful Tuesday morning. I had just finished fixing my 12 year old breakfast and sending him to school. I was getting ready for work when my brother called me. He told me to turn on my t.v. I sensed the panic in his voice. I saw on the phone when I what I saw was an accident in New York with the WTC.

Then as me and my brother were still on the phone I saw the second plane fly into the other tower. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. My whole body became numb. I can't even remember if I hung up the phone. I sat in my sofa just watching thinking this is all a bad dream. But as I surfed the t.v. channels, the reporters were all saying that this wasn't an accident these were acts of terrorists.

I called my husband who worked in downtown Chicago and told him what had happened. He said that his company had just heard the news and that they heard that they were going to evacuate downtown Chicago just as a precaution.

I left to work and stopped in at the corner gas station. There I asked the cashier if he heard any more news about WTC. He didn't have a clue as to what I was talking about. I told him and he immediately turned on his radio. This is when we heard that the Pentagon got hit and that there was another plane in the air which they believed is hijacked just crashed in PA. We all looked at each other in disbelief. Suddenly, I felt so unsafe. I started to cry and so did alot of other people. We were in Chicago and couldn't help but think what was headed our way. People using planes and flying into buildings??? Who would have thought. I drove to work I needed to get some work done. It didn't happen I ended up listening to the radio in the car. That when I heard that the first WTC building had collapsed. I couldn't believe it. It was just so surreal. How could that huge building come down. As I drove on I heard the second buildiing collapsed as well. I was in complete tears at this point. I was at work and watched CNN the whole time. 

While at work, residents stopped in to see if I had heard any more news. We prayed together and hoped that this would be the end. We were so afraid, we thought it was the end of the world and this was the beginning of revelation.

I watched day and night the news for the next few days to see if they heard of any more attacks. I'm just so mad that they used religion as an excuse for the senseless violence. The families who will never again see there loved ones. The children who will not see their parent(s) again. All the pain and hurt they have caused us all. I don't live in N.Y., VA. or PA. but I felt the hurt all the way in Chicago. 

In the following days I scheduled a blood drive at my apartment complex and had all the kids here draw pictures of flags, firemen, police officers and hung them with pride in our lobby. If I couldn't be there I figured at least my blood will help a few people who need it.

I just hope that we can get over this enormous hurdle in life. But September 11, 2201 is a day I will never forget.</text>
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      <element elementId="100">
        <name>NMAH Story: Life Changed</name>
        <description>Has your life changed because of September 11, 2001? If so, tell us how.</description>
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          <elementText elementTextId="562507">
            <text>It has changed at the way I look at life in general. I make sure that theres a surplus of canned food at home. I never let my car go low on gas. I constantly check in during the day with the sitter(my mom) to see how the kids are. I call my husband everyday at work to see how he his.
Overall, I think it's made me be more alert of things.</text>
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        </elementTextContainer>
      </element>
      <element elementId="101">
        <name>NMAH Story: Remembered</name>
        <description>What do you think should be remembered about September 11th?</description>
        <elementTextContainer>
          <elementText elementTextId="562508">
            <text>The things that should be remembered about 9/11 are all the victim's families, rescue workers, doctors, nurses, volunteers, and the all the unsung heroes who helped with the tragic events on that day and the days that followed.

How we all came together as a nation and showed these evil people that the United States is a nation united.</text>
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      </element>
      <element elementId="102">
        <name>NMAH Story: Flag</name>
        <description>Did you fly an American flag after the events of September 11th? Have your feelings about the American flag changed as a result of September 11th?</description>
        <elementTextContainer>
          <elementText elementTextId="562509">
            <text>We always flew the flag at my work. But at home I would only fly it during holidays. Since Sept. 11th its been flying every day.</text>
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      </element>
    </elementContainer>
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      <name>Dublin Core</name>
      <description>The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.</description>
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        <element elementId="50">
          <name>Title</name>
          <description>A name given to the resource</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="562510">
              <text>nmah4193.xml</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
      </elementContainer>
    </elementSet>
    <elementSet elementSetId="4">
      <name>911DA Item</name>
      <description>Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item.</description>
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        <element elementId="52">
          <name>Status</name>
          <description>The process status of this item.</description>
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            <elementText elementTextId="562511">
              <text>approved</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="53">
          <name>Consent</name>
          <description>Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="562512">
              <text>full</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="54">
          <name>Posting</name>
          <description>Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="562513">
              <text>yes</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="55">
          <name>Copyright</name>
          <description>Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="562514">
              <text>yes</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="56">
          <name>Source</name>
          <description>The source of this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="562515">
              <text>born-digital</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="57">
          <name>Media Type</name>
          <description>The media type of this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="562516">
              <text>story</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="59">
          <name>Created by Author</name>
          <description>Whether the author created this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="562517">
              <text>yes</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="60">
          <name>Described by Author</name>
          <description>Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="562518">
              <text>no</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="61">
          <name>Date Entered</name>
          <description>The date this item was entered into the archive.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="562519">
              <text>2002-09-11</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="62">
          <name>IP Address</name>
          <description>The IP address of the device used to submit the item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="562520">
              <text>66.19.53.95</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
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