CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Collapse of the World Trade Center

Outcome of the September 11 attacks

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 23, 2026
Entity authoritySource title only
Source-derived summary

The World Trade Center, in Lower Manhattan, New York City, was destroyed after a series of terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people at the site. Two commercial airliners hijacked by al-Qaeda members were deliberately flown into the complex's Twin Towers, at the time among the five tallest buildings in the world. The plane impacts inflicted significant structural damage to the skyscrapers and started large fires in the towers, eventually resulting in both undergoing a total progressive collapse.

Editorial summary

“Collapse of the World Trade Center” enters the record as outcome of the September 11 attacks. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Collapse, World and Trade can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2001—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Collapse, World and Trade.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Collapse of the World Trade Center” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Collapse, World and Trade provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The first chronological checks are 2001.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Collapse of the World Trade Center”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Collapse of the World Trade Center primary sources, Collapse of the World Trade Center archive and Collapse research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Collapse of the World Trade Center”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Collapse of the World Trade Center” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.