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[http://www.usgenweb.org/ The USGenWeb Project] (the full, proper name of the project) consists of volunteers working together to provide free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. This Project is non-commercial and fully committed to free genealogy access for everyone. | [http://www.usgenweb.org/ The USGenWeb Project] (the full, proper name of the project) consists of volunteers working together to provide free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. This Project is non-commercial and fully committed to free genealogy access for everyone. | ||
Though many project sites were hosted on the RootsWeb server, The USGenWeb Project has never been owned by RootsWeb or Ancestry.com. Also, despite the similarity of their names, The USGenWeb Project is not affiliated with The WorldGenWeb Project. The USGenWeb Project has been proudly independent since its beginnings back in 1996. | [[USGenWeb/State Links|USGenWeb State Links]] | ||
[[USGenWeb/Special Projects|USGenWeb Special Projects]] | |||
<br>Though many project sites were hosted on the RootsWeb server, The USGenWeb Project has never been owned by RootsWeb or Ancestry.com. Also, despite the similarity of their names, The USGenWeb Project is not affiliated with The WorldGenWeb Project. The USGenWeb Project has been proudly independent since its beginnings back in 1996. | |||
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The idea that would become The USGenWeb Project was born in March and April of 1996, when a group of genealogists organized the Kentucky Comprehensive Genealogy Database Project. The idea was to provide a single entry point for all counties in Kentucky, where collected databases would be stored. In addition, the databases would be indexed and cross-linked, so even if an individual were found in more than one county, they could be located in the index. At the same time, volunteers were found who were willing to coordinate the collection of databases and generally oversee the contents of the web page. Since that time, The USGenWeb Project has grown to include sites covering the entire nation. The national site provides links to state sites, which, in turn, provide gateways to the counties. The USGenWeb Special Projects are another important aspect of USGenWeb's offerings, gathering useful data you can access for free. | The idea that would become The USGenWeb Project was born in March and April of 1996, when a group of genealogists organized the Kentucky Comprehensive Genealogy Database Project. The idea was to provide a single entry point for all counties in Kentucky, where collected databases would be stored. In addition, the databases would be indexed and cross-linked, so even if an individual were found in more than one county, they could be located in the index. At the same time, volunteers were found who were willing to coordinate the collection of databases and generally oversee the contents of the web page. Since that time, The USGenWeb Project has grown to include sites covering the entire nation. The national site provides links to state sites, which, in turn, provide gateways to the counties. The USGenWeb Special Projects are another important aspect of USGenWeb's offerings, gathering useful data you can access for free. | ||
The following article was written on the occasion of The USGenWeb Project's 10th anniversary held at the Boston, Massachusetts 2006 Federation of Genealogical Societies. It is posted with the permission of Linda Haas Davenport. The article was originally printed in | The following article was written on the occasion of The USGenWeb Project's 10th anniversary held at the Boston, Massachusetts 2006 Federation of Genealogical Societies. It is posted with the permission of Linda Haas Davenport. The article was originally printed in Everton Publishers' Genealogical Helper. | ||
:10th Anniversary<br>USGenWeb Project™<br>Land of the Free ... Genealogy | :10th Anniversary<br>USGenWeb Project™<br>Land of the Free ... Genealogy | ||
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In 1969 what would later be called the Internet began when four computers in different locations were hooked together. In the beginning this network of computers was used mostly by the defense department (ARPAnet) and by universities (BITNET) and ran on IBM mainframe computers. <sup>(1)</sup> It would take several years and the development of many tools before the Internet, as we know it today, would be taken for granted by the average family historian.<br>Karen Isaacson, in her article in the National Genealogical Society Computer Interest Group magazine,<sup>(2)</sup> tells us that genealogy first appeared on the Internet in 1983 when a USENET newsgroup called net.roots, named after the popular Roots miniseries, was launched. She goes on to say, "Access, if you could get it at all, was 'free' from an employer, from a university, perhaps (later) from a community-based Freenet. There was a culture of volunteers working together, to make resources freely available to the general community. There was no World Wide Web. The tools used by most netizens were email, FTP, and perhaps telnet." | In 1969 what would later be called the Internet began when four computers in different locations were hooked together. In the beginning this network of computers was used mostly by the defense department (ARPAnet) and by universities (BITNET) and ran on IBM mainframe computers. <sup>(1)</sup> It would take several years and the development of many tools before the Internet, as we know it today, would be taken for granted by the average family historian.<br>Karen Isaacson, in her article in the National Genealogical Society Computer Interest Group magazine,<sup>(2)</sup> tells us that genealogy first appeared on the Internet in 1983 when a USENET newsgroup called net.roots, named after the popular Roots miniseries, was launched. She goes on to say, "Access, if you could get it at all, was 'free' from an employer, from a university, perhaps (later) from a community-based Freenet. There was a culture of volunteers working together, to make resources freely available to the general community. There was no World Wide Web. The tools used by most netizens were email, FTP, and perhaps telnet." | ||
By 1987 CompuServe and Prodigy were popular places for family historians. These early bulletin boards allowed them to exchange information and chat about their favorite subject (much to the relief of their family members). These early meeting places | By 1987 CompuServe and Prodigy were popular places for family historians. These early bulletin boards allowed them to exchange information and chat about their favorite subject (much to the relief of their family members). These early meeting places were in turn, about to be replaced by a more exciting tool - email lists. Eric Thomas <sup>(1)</sup> refined his LISTSERV software in 1986 and it quickly became the standard for email. LISTSERV made it possible for Alf Christophersen of Norway, and Marty Hoag of North Dakota State University, in 1987, to start the ROOTS-L mailing list, and with this list genealogy on the internet began in earnest. | ||
Karen talks about those early days: "With the creation of ROOTS-L, things began to happen. John Wilson proposed a database of surnames people were searching in late 1988. About the same time, Cliff Manis got permission from Marty Hoag to start a library of genealogy files on the NDSU FTP server and, with help from various ROOTS-L participants, made hundreds of files freely available to anyone on the network." <sup>(2)</sup> | Karen talks about those early days: "With the creation of ROOTS-L, things began to happen. John Wilson proposed a database of surnames people were searching in late 1988. About the same time, Cliff Manis got permission from Marty Hoag to start a library of genealogy files on the NDSU FTP server and, with help from various ROOTS-L participants, made hundreds of files freely available to anyone on the network." <sup>(2)</sup> | ||
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Bill Couch was on the KY list and his main interest was in the state of AR. Bill followed Jeff's example and in May 1996 uploaded an AR state site and a site for every AR county. It didn't take long before volunteers stepped forward to adopt an AR county site. | Bill Couch was on the KY list and his main interest was in the state of AR. Bill followed Jeff's example and in May 1996 uploaded an AR state site and a site for every AR county. It didn't take long before volunteers stepped forward to adopt an AR county site. | ||
=== The Birth of | === The Birth of the USGenWeb Project === | ||
We family historians have long been used to zeroing in on a county to find information on our ancestors so the whole idea of websites devoted to genealogy for a county was exciting. During late May and early June of 1996, Jeff, Bill and a few other people kicked around the whole idea of state and county sites and out of those conversations the concept of the USGenWeb was born: a web of inter-connected genealogy sites - a site for every state in the U.S. with each state site linking to all the counties (parishes or townships) within the state and to tie the whole thing together, a national site with links to all the state sites. Since it was to be a web of genealogy sites it would be named "US GenWeb." The name had to be changed to USGenWeb because US GenWeb was a copyright violation. The words "The" and "Project" weren't added until later. | We family historians have long been used to zeroing in on a county to find information on our ancestors so the whole idea of websites devoted to genealogy for a county was exciting. During late May and early June of 1996, Jeff, Bill and a few other people kicked around the whole idea of state and county sites and out of those conversations the concept of the USGenWeb was born: a web of inter-connected genealogy sites - a site for every state in the U.S. with each state site linking to all the counties (parishes or townships) within the state and to tie the whole thing together, a national site with links to all the state sites. Since it was to be a web of genealogy sites it would be named "US GenWeb." The name had to be changed to USGenWeb because US GenWeb was a copyright violation. The words "The" and "Project" weren't added until later. | ||
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Free server space was rare and many people who wanted to adopt sites couldn't afford to pay for server space. Although Dale Schneider was willing to host the new sites on his personal server he couldn't afford to do it for free. Fund raising suggestions were made, but for most people on the list freely sharing genealogy information was a way of life. Another way needed to be found and that "way" turned out to be RootsWeb. | Free server space was rare and many people who wanted to adopt sites couldn't afford to pay for server space. Although Dale Schneider was willing to host the new sites on his personal server he couldn't afford to do it for free. Fund raising suggestions were made, but for most people on the list freely sharing genealogy information was a way of life. Another way needed to be found and that "way" turned out to be RootsWeb. | ||
When first approached by Jeff, some misunderstanding or miscommunication occurred, and RootsWeb wasn't willing to host the | When first approached by Jeff, some misunderstanding or miscommunication occurred, and RootsWeb wasn't willing to host the USGenWebsites, but that was quickly cleared up. RootsWeb offered to host the USGenWebsites on its servers for free with no limit on the amount of space for a site. With RootsWeb making server space available for free, volunteers could afford to take on a Project site and by the end of June or very early July 1996 there was a website for every state and county on-line - ready to welcome visitors. The state coordinators were responsible for finding volunteers to man the county sites and by the end of 1996 70% of the county sites were adopted by volunteers. | ||
During June while all of this was going on, one of the people on the list was Linda Lewis and she was interested in a place to put all the bits and pieces and scraps of information the average family historian squirrels away "just in case." Joy Fisher, also on the list, was concerned about the future changes of html and web browsers since both things had changed so rapidly in such a short period of time. Joy already had on-line some books she had transcribed and they were in .txt format, both to conserve on precious server space but also so she wouldn't have to reformat them each time html and/or browsers were updated. By the end of June 1996 not only were state and county sites being uploaded, but the USGenWeb's first special project - The Digital Archives (a place to put all those bits & pieces, all in .txt format) was on-line. | During June while all of this was going on, one of the people on the list was Linda Lewis and she was interested in a place to put all the bits and pieces and scraps of information the average family historian squirrels away "just in case." Joy Fisher, also on the list, was concerned about the future changes of html and web browsers since both things had changed so rapidly in such a short period of time. Joy already had on-line some books she had transcribed and they were in .txt format, both to conserve on precious server space but also so she wouldn't have to reformat them each time html and/or browsers were updated. By the end of June 1996 not only were state and county sites being uploaded, but the USGenWeb's first special project - The Digital Archives (a place to put all those bits & pieces, all in .txt format) was on-line. | ||
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From its birth in 1996 the volunteers of the USGenWeb Project have never looked back. Today the USGenWeb Project has thousands of sites, millions of web pages, a wealth of genealogical and historical information on line and welcomes several millions of visitors each year to its sites. Over the years six more Special Projects joined the Project and the Digital Archives now has numerous sub-projects. All of these sites and pages are manned today, just as they were back in 1996, by volunteers, around 2,000+ of them. Hundreds of pages of new information, transcribed records, photos, etc., are added daily by the volunteers of the USGenWeb Project. No one is satisfied with how far we have come, no one is resting on their laurels; there's simply too much stuff out there that isn't on-line, for free, yet. | From its birth in 1996 the volunteers of the USGenWeb Project have never looked back. Today the USGenWeb Project has thousands of sites, millions of web pages, a wealth of genealogical and historical information on line and welcomes several millions of visitors each year to its sites. Over the years six more Special Projects joined the Project and the Digital Archives now has numerous sub-projects. All of these sites and pages are manned today, just as they were back in 1996, by volunteers, around 2,000+ of them. Hundreds of pages of new information, transcribed records, photos, etc., are added daily by the volunteers of the USGenWeb Project. No one is satisfied with how far we have come, no one is resting on their laurels; there's simply too much stuff out there that isn't on-line, for free, yet. | ||
The USGenWeb was one of, if not | The USGenWeb was one of, if not the first, project on the internet involving the continuing participation of a thousand or more individuals. In a sense, you could call it a forerunner of DMOZ, Wikipedia, and the other recent group projects. | ||
Since the number of other participants who actively contribute on the query boards and lists exceeds 1,000,000 | Since the number of other participants who actively contribute on the query boards and lists exceeds 1,000,000; it is also surely true that this is one of, if not the largest, single-interest group on the internet. | ||
=== To | === To answer Leland's Question about RootsWeb === | ||
As I told Leland at the conference - RootsWeb doesn't own the Project nor does the Project own RootsWeb. Admittedly the close relationship between the two entities these past 10 years makes it difficult, sometimes, to distinguish between the two, but they are two completely separate groups. | As I told Leland at the conference - RootsWeb doesn't own the Project nor does the Project own RootsWeb. Admittedly the close relationship between the two entities these past 10 years makes it difficult, sometimes, to distinguish between the two, but they are two completely separate groups. | ||
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If your interest is in the Archives or one of the special projects, contact the special project manager (name and email address will be on the main page). | If your interest is in the Archives or one of the special projects, contact the special project manager (name and email address will be on the main page). | ||
To reach the states sites or the special projects sites, start at the national site (http://www.usgenweb.org). To reach a state click on the state name on the left of the page. To reach the special projects, click on the Projects tab on the top of the page and then click on the special project you are interested in. | To reach the states sites or the special projects sites, start at the national site (http://www.usgenweb.org). To reach a state, click on the state name on the left of the page. To reach the special projects, click on the Projects tab on the top of the page and then click on the special project you are interested in. | ||
=== Thank You === | === Thank You === | ||
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*[http://www.usgwarchives.net/ The USGenWeb Archives Project] | *[http://www.usgwarchives.net/ The USGenWeb Archives Project] | ||
*[http:// | *[http://sites.rootsweb.com/~aagriots/ The USGenWeb African American Griots Project] | ||
*[http://genevents.genwebsite.org/ The USGenWeb Genealogical Events Project] | *[http://genevents.genwebsite.org/ The USGenWeb Genealogical Events Project] | ||
*[http:// | *[http://sites.rootsweb.com/~usgwkidz/ The USGenWeb Kidz Project] | ||
*[http:// | *[http://sites.rootsweb.com/~lineage/ The USGenWeb Lineage Project] | ||
*[http://www.usgwtombstones.org/ The USGenWeb Tombstone Project] | *[http://www.usgwtombstones.org/ The USGenWeb Tombstone Project] | ||
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*[http://www.usgwarchives.net/pensions/ The Pension Project] | *[http://www.usgwarchives.net/pensions/ The Pension Project] | ||
*[http://www.usgwarchives.net/census/ The Online Census Images Project] | *[http://www.usgwarchives.net/census/ The Online Census Images Project] | ||
*[ | *[https://sites.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/churches/ The Church Records Project] | ||
*[http://www.usgwarchives.net/immigrations/ The Immigrations Project] | *[http://www.usgwarchives.net/immigrations/ The Immigrations Project] | ||
*[http://www.usgwarchives.net/marriages/ The Marriage Records Project] | *[http://www.usgwarchives.net/marriages/ The Marriage Records Project] | ||
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*[http://www.usgwcensus.org/ http://www.usgwcensus.org] | *[http://www.usgwcensus.org/ http://www.usgwcensus.org] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:United States Online Research Sites]] [[Category:USGenWeb]] [[Category:Major Genealogy Websites]] | ||