INTERNET ARCHIVE WAYBACK MACHINE
Brenda Kellow
June 12, 2011
The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, http://www.archive.org/, is a recorded memory of all the Web pages on every website on the Internet from when it began in 1996. This site archived over 150 billion Web pages from 1996 to the present. The current physical location is Alexandria, Egypt, but was previously in San Francisco prior to 2010 when it relocated.
It is a 501 c3 non-profit digital library offering permanent storage access to collections of digitized materials including genealogy, websites, music, moving images and over three million public domain books (books free to use without paying a royalty mostly published prior to 1900). It was founded by Brewster Kahle in 1996. His mission was to provide universal access to all knowledge at no cost to researchers, historians, scholars and the public.
Genealogists can access digital versions of out-of-copyright family histories, scanned images (not indexed) of all U.S. census records from 1790-1930, past issues of genealogical quarterlies, military records, etc. You may search books from the Open Library site to interface with other book collections contributed by the Allen County Public Library’s Genealogy Department and the Library of Congress.
Genealogist may upload PDF formatted public domain photographs, books, family Bibles, journals, diaries and more. Their software automatically makes these searchable in a variety of formats—even into eBook formats for Kindle, Daisy and DjVu. They will provide free storage and access to them.
The Internet Archives is a new source to consider when you publish or want to share your personal family history books. They make it available to download free, provide free access and storage. Definitely, this is something for us to consider.
It is also an option for genealogy groups and societies to share freely back issues of newsletter and quarterlies, photos and albums found in antique stores.
The Internet Archive is a great research engine to access a world of knowledge. Let’s use it.
FREE ACCESS TO SUBSCRIPTION SITES: As the Fourth of July nears, be watchful for free access to subscription sites such as Ancestry.com and Footnote.com on your home PCs. I keep a note section of subscription sites I would like to explore free with the information I would like to retrieve or explore. When a national holiday nears, I habitually check these sites every couple of days before the holiday to access them the day it begins. This is just another way I try to save money on this expensive vocation or avocation.
SITES FOR FREE GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH: You know I would mention searching Google for ancestors, books, biographies, histories and family trees. At FamilySearch.com there is FamilySearch Library Catalog, FamilySearch Pilot Site and FamilySearch Labs. Don’t forget GenWed.com for finding marriage records, Free vital records at http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ and Archives.com for vital records but is free for only seven days. Joining for a limited time means you must contact the company within that free period to discontinue access or you will be charged the subscription price. Many states offer free vital records, some only have the index but others include the digitized record. A few states offering free searches are Arizona, California, Western States, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho and Illinois. RootsWeb and FamilySearch offer free vital record searches. Always double-check to see that the record is free and not one to purchase if that is not your intent.
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history, teaches, and lectures on genealogy. Before retiring to publish her family’s histories in 2007, Brenda held certification as a Certified Genealogist and as a Certified Genealogical Instructor. Send reunion announcements, books to review, and genealogy queries to: [email protected].
It is a 501 c3 non-profit digital library offering permanent storage access to collections of digitized materials including genealogy, websites, music, moving images and over three million public domain books (books free to use without paying a royalty mostly published prior to 1900). It was founded by Brewster Kahle in 1996. His mission was to provide universal access to all knowledge at no cost to researchers, historians, scholars and the public.
Genealogists can access digital versions of out-of-copyright family histories, scanned images (not indexed) of all U.S. census records from 1790-1930, past issues of genealogical quarterlies, military records, etc. You may search books from the Open Library site to interface with other book collections contributed by the Allen County Public Library’s Genealogy Department and the Library of Congress.
Genealogist may upload PDF formatted public domain photographs, books, family Bibles, journals, diaries and more. Their software automatically makes these searchable in a variety of formats—even into eBook formats for Kindle, Daisy and DjVu. They will provide free storage and access to them.
The Internet Archives is a new source to consider when you publish or want to share your personal family history books. They make it available to download free, provide free access and storage. Definitely, this is something for us to consider.
It is also an option for genealogy groups and societies to share freely back issues of newsletter and quarterlies, photos and albums found in antique stores.
The Internet Archive is a great research engine to access a world of knowledge. Let’s use it.
FREE ACCESS TO SUBSCRIPTION SITES: As the Fourth of July nears, be watchful for free access to subscription sites such as Ancestry.com and Footnote.com on your home PCs. I keep a note section of subscription sites I would like to explore free with the information I would like to retrieve or explore. When a national holiday nears, I habitually check these sites every couple of days before the holiday to access them the day it begins. This is just another way I try to save money on this expensive vocation or avocation.
SITES FOR FREE GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH: You know I would mention searching Google for ancestors, books, biographies, histories and family trees. At FamilySearch.com there is FamilySearch Library Catalog, FamilySearch Pilot Site and FamilySearch Labs. Don’t forget GenWed.com for finding marriage records, Free vital records at http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ and Archives.com for vital records but is free for only seven days. Joining for a limited time means you must contact the company within that free period to discontinue access or you will be charged the subscription price. Many states offer free vital records, some only have the index but others include the digitized record. A few states offering free searches are Arizona, California, Western States, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho and Illinois. RootsWeb and FamilySearch offer free vital record searches. Always double-check to see that the record is free and not one to purchase if that is not your intent.
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history, teaches, and lectures on genealogy. Before retiring to publish her family’s histories in 2007, Brenda held certification as a Certified Genealogist and as a Certified Genealogical Instructor. Send reunion announcements, books to review, and genealogy queries to: [email protected].