Archive

The early web, documented, not reenacted.

Everything here is held under one schema: what happened, the role in it, primary sources, contemporary coverage, later historical accounts, artifacts. Reproduced writing keeps its original date and its original voice. Provenance labels are exact, and a scan says so.

34 entries1994 – 2002

All Primary sources · 11 Contemporary coverage · 9 Later accounts · 6 Artifacts · 8

Primary
sources

1994

Usenet launch-week announcement

comp.infosystems.www.misc, 10 Aug

open

1995

Lewis, New York Times, 21 Aug, D4

local artifact · as scanned

open

1995

Internet Underground, Vol. 1 No. 1

local artifact · as scanned

open

1996

projectcool.com hub page

verification pending

open

2000

Astounding Websites — homepage

What happened

The last curation vehicle before the question changed. A daily selection, run on the same premise as 1994 and into a web that no longer needed anyone to find things in it.

Role

Founder, editor.

Sources

astoundingweb.org — Wayback, 2000-08-18

local artifact · as scanned

NYT, 2002-03-28 · verification pending

Contemporary
coverage

1994

Washington Post — “In the Throws of Winter”

verified

open

1995

Newsweek — Net 50

verification pending

open

1998

Wired — on the standards fight

verified

open

2002

New York Times — “As the Web Matures, Fun Is Hard to Find”

verified

open

Artifacts

Project Cool homepage, projectcoolmedia era, © 1996-99

New York Times clipping, 1995-08-21, page D4

New York Times, 1995-08-21, D4
local artifact · as scanned

Internet Underground magazine, Vol. 1 No. 1

Internet Underground, Vol. 1 No. 1
local artifact · as scanned

astoundingweb.org homepage
scan, 2022-05-24

Wayback receipts · 6Surviving sites · 2Period objects · 4 All artifacts

The archive is here because the research is about what a history does to the system that carries it. It is evidence, not a retrospective.

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