Associated Files
Title
WBUR Oral History Project: Bruce Mendelsohn
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Title
WBUR Oral History Project: Bruce Mendelsohn
Creator
Mendelsohn, Bruce (Interviewee)
Contributor
Guberman, Jayne (Interviewer)
Girdharry, Kristi (Recordist)
McDonough, Ryan (Contributor)
Language
English
Date created
October 24, 2013
Type of resource
Sound recording
Genre
Interviews
Oral histories (document genres)
Format
Sound Recording
Digital origin
born digital
Abstract/Description
Countless lives were affected by the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and their aftermath. The WBUR Oral History Project collects stories from individuals whose lives were immediately and irrevocably changed by these events. Thanks to the generous sponsorship of WBUR, our team of oral historians, and the participation of these interview subjects, Our Marathon has tried to ensure that these stories are not forgotten. We believe that these stories matter, and that they demonstrate the ways historical events transform the lives of the people who lived through them. Oral historians Jayne K. Guberman, Ph.D., and Joanna Shea O'Brien conducted the interviews for this project. Oral History Project Manager Kristi Girdharry, Our Marathon Project Co-Director Jim McGrath, and Community Outreach Lead Joanne DeCaro recorded the interviews and provided research assistance and post-interview processing. McGrath and Our Marathon Audio Technician Ryan McDonough provided sound editing and processing for all of the interviews and clips. The opinions and statements expressed in interviews and related content featured in the WBUR Oral History Project do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Our Marathon, WBUR, Northeastern University, or any employees or volunteers affiliated with these institutions and projects. Our Marathon and The WBUR Oral History project make no assertions about the veracity of statements made by participants in this project. Bruce Mendelsohn is the Director of Communications & Outreach for an engineering leadership program at MIT. Active in many sports, he has run 17 marathons, though 2014 is the first time he will run in Boston. Bruce was a spectator and first responder at the Boston Marathon who had come to support his brother who was running it for the first time. They were at an after party at Marlo Marketing & Communications, in a third-floor office located adjacent to the finish line, when the first bomb exploded. Bruce instinctively ran down into the street and began helping care for and evacuating injured people. He tied a tourniquet on the severely injured leg of a young Northeastern student, Victoria McGrath, and helped get her to the medical tent. The photo of Jimmy Plourde, a firefighter, carrying Victoria became an iconic image of the bombings. Bruce also took a photo of the scene, from the third floor window of the office where he had been celebrating, before leaving with his brother. He tweeted this photo and, within ten minutes, was contacted by the Associated Press. Numerous national and international media outlets contacted him, as his tweets became an important source for information in the days following the bombings. In the interview, Bruce reflects on how the response to his photos and tweets were an "eye-opener" for him about the role of social media in communications about contemporary events. Bruce discusses the personal impact of these events on his life, the impact of his Jewish values on his actions and attitudes, and how participating in interviews and media programs have become a form of "therapy by media" for him.
Notes
The opinions and statements expressed in interviews and related content featured in the WBUR Oral History Project do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Our Marathon, WBUR, Northeastern University, or any employees or volunteers affiliated with these institutions and projects. Our Marathon and The WBUR Oral History project make no assertions about the veracity of statements made by participants in this project.
Source note
The WBUR Oral History Project. Bruce Mendelsohn (Oral History), Jayne Guberman (Oral Historian), Kristi Girdharry (Recorder), Ryan McDonough (Sound Editing and Processing)
Related item
Our Marathon The Boston Bombing Digital Archive
Subjects and keywords
Boston Marathon Bombing, Boston, Mass., 2013
Permanent URL
Location
Northeastern University Library
Use and reproduction
In Copyright. This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Requests for permission to publish material should be addressed to Northeastern University Library's Digital Scholarship Group (dsg@neu.edu).

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