Since September 11, Americans, we are told, have adapted to the “new normal.” It's a curious phrase, implying as it does a rupture with an “old” normal that knew neither disaster nor tragedy. The traumatic power of the terrorist attacks invites us to forget how much of the present has, in fact, been shaped by the fires, epidemics, accidents, and upheavals of the past. New York City's development in particular has been punctuated and defined by a litany of horrific events. Two new digital resources for teaching and research underscore the role of both tragedy and its memory in the making and remaking of the city's economy, politics, and citizenry.