Free at the National Archives
Free when accessed from a link on Archives.gov while at a National Archives facility. (Libraries may also provide free access.)
Software Library The Internet Archive Software Library is the ultimate software crate-digger's dream: Tens of thousands of playable software titles from multiple computer platforms, allowing instant access to decades of computer history in your browser through the JSMESS emulator. GrieeX Movie Archive Program is a database that lets people keep track of the movies they own and import a variety of related information from the Internet, too. We like the premise of the program.
Free Everywhere
Free (no subscription required) - available from any computer.
Subscription Databases Free on National Archives Computers
Use these links on a National Archives facility computer to access these subscription-only websites for free. (Free access can also often be found from local public and university libraries.)
If you use the same link from outside the National Archives facility, there will be a fee.
- Fold3 (Formerly Footnote.com)
- ProQuest/UMI
- GaleNet
Details about Subscription Databases
These websites are free only when accessed from a link on Archives.gov while at a National Archives facility computer.
If you use the same link from outside the National Archives facility, there will be a fee.
This database offers access to:
- Complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.
- 490,000 bibliographic entries for periodicals dating back to 1954.
- Over 2,000 journals published worldwide.
- Produced by ABC-CLIO.
- Click on subscription access link to browse the database.
- America: History & Life is also available to staff and researchers on CD-ROM in the library at the National Archives at Washington, DC.
Ancestry is a subscription service offering extensive resources for researching family history including databases containing billions of digitized historical documents, message boards, educational materials, and family trees contributed by individual researchers. Over 1.2 billion records in over 3,000 databases, including census images from 1790 onward, immigration and passenger lists, military draft cards, city directories, and much more.
You may want to start your Genealogy research here with searches of recent Census records:
- Message Boards for Collaboration
CIA Records Search Tool (CREST)
CREST is the name of the CIA database of declassified intelligence documents. The database, searchable by title, data, and text content, includes Directorate of Operations reports on the role of intelligence in the post WW-II period; material on the creation, organization, and role of the CIA within the U.S. Government; a collection of foreign scientific articles, ground photographs and associated reference materials; and the CIA's first release of motion picture film.
- An online CREST Finding Aid to research availability of CIA documents declassified and loaded onto CREST through 2008 is now available through the CIA website (formerly at NARA). Data for the remaining years up to the present (CREST deliveries have been ongoing) will be placed on the site at later dates.
- Contains comprehensive set of declassified government documents.
- Covers critical world events, countries, and U.S. policy decisions from post World War II through the 21st century.
- Includes glossaries, chronologies, bibliographies, overviews, and photographs.
- Documents available in PDF format.
Fold3 (Formerly Footnote.com) presents millions of digitized historical documents that can be searched and browsed. The site covers a wide variety of topics, including Civil War records, Native American resources, newspapers, photographs and much more. They now specialize in military records.
You may want to start here if you are searching for Military and Military Pension records:
- Getting Started
GaleNet
- Biography and Genealogy Master Index
- Comprehensive index to nearly 12 million biographical sketches in more than 2700 volumes.
- Comprehensive index to nearly 12 million biographical sketches in more than 2700 volumes.
- Declassified Documents Reference System
- Provides online access to over 500,000 pages of previously classified government documents covering major international events from the Cold War to the Vietnam War and beyond.
- Provides online access to over 500,000 pages of previously classified government documents covering major international events from the Cold War to the Vietnam War and beyond.
- Search databases and tables of contents.
- For instructions, tutorials, and other Ingenta databases see the Ingenta Home Page.
- Place orders directly by credit card.
- NARA staff can obtain articles by contacting the ALIC library at 301-837-3415 or by e-mail.
- Offers core journals in economics, history, political science, and sociology, as well as in other key fields in the humanities and social sciences.
- Includes 119 titles in twenty-one disciplines.
- Collection can be searched or browsed by discipline, title, or publisher.
ProQuest/UMI
Software Archives
- Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States, with information on over 5,480 repositories and 132,300 collections of primary source material across the United States.
- National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC): published since 1959, and contains over 93,100 records.
- National Inventory of Documentary Sources - US (NIDS-US): complete indexing of over 58,600 records.
- Distributed by ProQuest
- Archives USA is also available to staff and researchers on CD-ROM in the library at both the National Archives in Washington, DC and at College Park, MD.
- ProQuest Direct
ProQuest Direct includes:- Citations, abstracts, and/or full text of over 1000 newspapers and journals, including:
- Newspaper abstracts and/or full text from 1985-
(including the full text New York Times for the most recent 90 days). - Full text of the Washington Post from 1877-1989.
- Full text of the New York Times from 1851-2002.
- Abstracts for over 1000 journals from 1986-.
- Full text for over 700 journals from 1992-.
- Newspaper abstracts and/or full text from 1985-
- Citations, abstracts, and/or full text of over 1000 newspapers and journals, including:
The U.S. Serial Set is a collection of U.S. Government publications compiled under directive of the Congress. It contains comprehensive and often detailed information on an extremely wide range of subjects. The LexisNexis® U.S. Serial Set Digital Collection contains hundreds of thousands of documents and over 52,000 maps, ranging from 1789 to the present.
- You may want to search here to see if your ancestors had any interactions with Congress, such as letters for assistance, petitions on behalf of neighbors, and regarding pension or land mattters.
The Internet Archive is a treasure trove of fascinating media, texts, and ephemera. Items that if they didn't exist here, would be lost forever. Yet so many of our community members have difficulty describing what exactly it is…that we do here. Most people know us for the Wayback Machine, but we are so much more. To that end, we've put together a fun and useful guide to exploring the Archive. So, grab your flashlight and pith hat and let your digital adventure begin…
1. Pick a place & time you want to explore. Search our eBooks and Texts collection and download or borrow one of the 3 million books for free, offered in many formats, including PDFs and EPub.
2. Enter a time machine of old time films. Explore films of historic significance in the Prelinger Archives.
3. Want to listen to a live concert? The Live Music Archive holds more than 12,000 Grateful Dead concerts. Download adobe reader xi for windows 7.
4. Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men? Only the Shadow knows. You can too. Listen to 'The Shadow' as he employs his power to cloud minds to fight crime in Old Time Radio.
1. Pick a place & time you want to explore. Search our eBooks and Texts collection and download or borrow one of the 3 million books for free, offered in many formats, including PDFs and EPub.
2. Enter a time machine of old time films. Explore films of historic significance in the Prelinger Archives.
3. Want to listen to a live concert? The Live Music Archive holds more than 12,000 Grateful Dead concerts. Download adobe reader xi for windows 7.
4. Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men? Only the Shadow knows. You can too. Listen to 'The Shadow' as he employs his power to cloud minds to fight crime in Old Time Radio.
5. To read or not to read? Try listening to Shakespeare with the LibriVox Free Audiobook Collection.
6. Need a laugh? Search the Animation Shorts collection for an old time cartoon. Windows 7 ultimate setup free. download full version.
7. Before there was Playstation 4… there was Atari. Play a classic video game on an emulated old time console, right in the browser. Choose from hundreds of games in the Internet Arcade.
8. Are you a technophile? Take the Oregon Trail or get nostalgic with the Apple II programs. You have instant access to decades of computer history in the Software Library.
9. Find a television news story you missed. Search our Television News Archive for all the channels that presented the story. How do they differ? Quote a clip from the story and share it.
10. Has your favorite website disappeared? Go to the Wayback Machine and type in the URL to see if this website has been preserved across time. Want to save a website? Use 'Save Page Now.'
What does it take to become an archivist? It's as simple as creating your own Internet Archive account and diving in. Upload photos, audio, and video that you treasure. Store them for free. Forever.
Free Archive Program
Sign up for free at https://archive.org.
