Hi Everyone, An extensive and growing collection of valuable genealogical resources has appeared on the Internet Archive website. A partial list may be found at [1]http://www.archive.org/details/allen_county Included in the series held on the website so far are: - the US decennial census for 1800 - 1930, - the soundex index for the census for 1880 and 1900 (1910 is partially completed), - an alphabetical index for service records of US soldiers in the War of 1812, - service records of both Confederate and Union soldiers in the Civil War, - service records of US soldiers in the American Revolution, - US passport applications: 1795-1905, - and more. These are raw digitized versions of microfilm reels held by the US National Archives. Each reel has its own webpage which includes an online reader and links which enable downloading the entire digitized reel in various formats. Each webpage also includes a brief description of the contents of the reel and usually includes information about its place in the larger microfilm series of which it's a member. This is an extraordinary library resource which lacks human archivists to help us find things. In an effort to partially fill this lack, we have two new resources: - A new mailing list has been created to enable sharing of information and expertise regarding how to find records, how the records are organized, etc. The list is hosted by RootsWeb and may be found at [2]http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/other/Internet_Help/DIGITAL-ARCH IVES.html - A web page has been created to provide finding guides. The page is hosted by DonsList and may be found at [3]http://www.donslist.net/PGHLookups/GuidesM.htm . If you are someone who has sent for a record at the National Archives, or someone who might wish to do so, or someone who is interested in accessing these records, or an archivist or librarian, etc., please consider subscribing to the mailing list and visiting the website. Hopefully the discussion on the mailing list will provide direction and improved understanding for all of us. From time to time, those who subscribe may wish to assemble what has been learned about specific series into "help" text which can be posted to the website along with improvements to the finding guides there. The material on the website will be restricted to simple .html files which can be copied and used on any website whose owners wish to host them, e.g. libraries with genealogical holdings. Please consider cross posting this to other lists where appropriate. Thank you. Don http://www.donslist.net Always free, always fast References 1. http://www.archive.org/details/allen_county 2. http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/other/Internet_Help/DIGITAL-ARCHIVES.html 3. http://www.donslist.net/PGHLookups/GuidesM.htm