Scope and arrangement
New York Times reporters James Glanz and Eric Lipton's joint project, City In the Sky covers the entire life span of New York City's World Trade Center - from the geology of lower Manhattan, the redevelopment plans that displaced scores of businesses on Radio Row to build the towers, the design and construction of the towers, their role in the economy and life of the Financial District to their eventual destruction and demolition. The book combines the expertise of Glanz's science background and Lipton's political and city reporting to create a biography of the towers themselves. Their research looked not only at the physical aspects of the towers' creation and destruction but why certain decisions were made and how those decisions set in motion a chain of events.
The Eric Lipton World Trade Center research files consist of materials collected and produced by Lipton during the creation of his book City in the Sky. These research materials include copies of articles, correspondence, notes, and interviews with key players in the conception and construction of the towers, as well as survivor and family accounts and interviews with first responders.
The materials are separated into five chronological categories: Conception (1945-1970), Construction (1966-1973), Life in the Towers (1972-2001), 9/11, and Post 9/11 (2001-2003). The majority of the material is secondary source. These include copies of articles, court cases, expert reports, biographies, and publicly available transcripts of meeting minutes. Topics covered include David Rockefeller, the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Plan, Minoru Yamasaki, Tenants and Leases, the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, casualty counts, and DNA identification of victims. An individual topical folder may contain partial transcripts of interviews regarding the subject, photocopies of related news articles, excerpts from publications, and handwritten notes.
Glanz and Lipton interviewed dozens of individuals in regards to the creation, construction, and eventual destruction of the World Trade Center. These interviews exist in partial transcript form throughout Lipton's research notes as well as on audio recordings. Individuals include Frank Lombardi, Abe Levine, and Calvin Kurt (regarding the building's design and conception), as well as survivors of both the North and South towers and family members who received phone calls from loved ones trapped in the towers.
Since City in the Sky was the result of a close collaboration between James Glanz and Eric Lipton, users are advised to consult both collections when conducting research. Glanz and Lipton conducted their interviews together and separately and shared materials. While this does create some duplication between the collections, there are instances where information is available in only one collection. Users should also note that Glanz and Lipton shared interview tapes, and therefore interviews conducted by Glanz may be present only within the Lipton collection, and vice versa.
Arrangement
Chronological, then alphabetical by subject.