Note: We shared the basic contents of this post last year at this time. The reader response was so strong that we present it again. And we never forget.

Fourteen years ago, young people from across the United States shared their gratitude, fear, patriotism and sorrow with the police and firefighters of Arlington Virginia.

Their unsolicited drawings and letters–preserved in the collections of Arlington Public Library’s Center for Local History–now show inevitable signs of age. Some of the young artists and writers no doubt have children of their own.

But the emotions of those grade schoolers and teens remain as fresh and powerful as the day they were put on paper and mailed from places like Renton, Wash., Toledo, Ohio, Clarksdale, Miss. and more locally Ashburn and the District.

The messages were welcomed and then saved. To preserve is to remember.

There are many ways to learn more and take part in the commemoration of Sept. 11, 2001 in Arlington:

• Read or listen to the Center for Local History’s oral histories from first responders and others
• Browse a collection of online resources
• Watch the video interview by Library Director Diane Kresh with Pat Creed, co-author, “Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11“
• Visit the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial