The atmosphere is tense at the Boston Globe headquarters on May 3rd, 2009. In just a few hours, the employees of the paper will learn their fate. Will the New York Times shut the New England institution down? How much will the unions sacrifice to save it?

This piece provides a glimpse into a brief moment in history, when the fate of New England’s paper of record – and its 1400 employees – was unknown.

The presses would roll later that night, but in the moment, nothing was certain.