About the USGenWeb Archives

Many thanks to Dr. Brian Leverich and Karen Isaacson, founders of Rootsweb Genealogical Data Cooperative now Rootsweb.Ancestry.Com, and later MyFamily.com and The Generations Network for generously providing space on their servers for the past 12 years. In the spring of 2008, the USGenWeb Digital Library (USGenWeb Archives) began hosting their pages independent of Rootsweb. We are very grateful for their support over the years and we would not be in existence today, were it not for the support they have given us.

In June 1996, the USGenWeb Digital Library (USGenWeb Archives) was developed to present actual transcriptions of public domain records on the Internet. This huge undertaking is the cooperative effort of volunteers who either have electronically formatted files on census records, marriage bonds, wills, and other public documents, or are willing to transcribe this information to contribute.

Once the decision was made to develop a project, originally called "TimeToDo" Something, a call went out to volunteers who would be willing to transcribe primary records as a service to the Internet genealogical community, find a way to get them posted on the Internet, and supporting the The USGenWeb Project county hosts by storing large files in a central location with a search engine. Space was donated by RootsWeb.Com for storage of the files. The USGenWeb Archives is now completely independent and self financed.

The USGenWeb Archives Digital Library was implemented in July 1996, and files are being added everyday. If you have transcriptions to contribute, please contact the person listed on the state Table of Contents page. Please read the Guidelines for file contributions. The files need to be in ASCII text format, and will be converted by the state archive manager if in another form. To help our volunteers, please read how to prepare files for submitting.

In February, 1997, the USGenWeb Archives Census Project was launched.

In February, 1999, the USGenWeb Archives Pension Project was launched.

In April, 1999, the United States Digital Map Project was launched.

In January, 2000, the USGenWeb Archives Special Collections Project was launched.

In April, 2000, the USGenWeb Archives Obits Project was launched.

In August, 2000, the USGenWeb Archives Church Records Project was launched.

In February, 2001, the USGenWeb Archives Marriages Project was launched.

In January, 2005, the USGenWeb Archives Immigrations Project was launched.

In May, 2005, the USGenWeb Archives Court Cases Project was launched.

In Spring, 2008, the USGenWeb Archives Project moved from rootsweb severs to a dedicated server.

Other specialized Archives projects will be announced in the future.