American Memory Internet Archive

I. The initiation After $ 13 Million were raised in donations the project started. The achieve came into existence on the octobre 13, After that the Congress sponsord a three year competition with $ 2 Million to enable colleges, museums, historical societies to digitize american history collections.

II. The publisher The archive is run by the library of congress. The library of congress is the national library of the USA.

III. The library of congress

Located in Washington. One of the largest and most important libraries in the world. There is a collection of 30 million catalogued books. The library was established in 1800.

IV. Sponsorship From the beginning the AM was/is a national endeavor. Money for the project was given by the Congress ($ 15 Mill. For five years). But much more out of private sponsorship.

V. Collections After the competition there are 23 digital collections. Today there are more than 100 thematic collections. Also the library reached the goal to make 5 million items available in the year 2000.

VI. Continuation The national digital library wants to expand by collecting historical items. They want to do this by using new technology to fulfill their aim „to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowlegde and creativity for future generations“.

VII. Features