Happy Anniversary: Ancestry World Archives Project marks its one year anniversary
Happy 1st Anniversary World Archives Project!
We began the beta portion of the project in June of 2008, since then we have had a wonderful response from many of you including a number of partnerships with genealogical societies. Your passion for this work is evident through the phenomenal activity we see daily, you’re an amazing group and on behalf of me and the entire World Archives Project staff we want to thank you!
I also want to take a moment to thank our staff who shares a love and enthusiasm for this project providing many hours of “behind the scenes” work.
Just as the thrill of watching a baby take its first steps or say their first words this project has been filled with many firsts, all of which have been fun to anticipate and participate in. I’m excited to see what can be accomplished in our next year!
Key Data and Milestones
- Developed an industry leading desktop transcription tool.
- Public launch March 2009 with over 12,000 contributors participating in the beta
- Over 19,000 contributors YTD, located in 70 countries & territories.
- Over 28.7 Million records keyed and arbitrated (will result in more than 13 million free record indexes that will be published to the Ancestry sites.
- More than 367 thousand hours logged.
- Three collections, over 438k free records published to the site
- Partnerships with 19 Genealogical Societies
If you would like to participate in the project go to www.ancestry.com/worldarchivesproject
| Published to Ancestry site | Country | Total Records to site |
| Wisconsin Mortality Records | USA | 381 |
| Lübeck marriage Banns | German | 4,315 |
| Alabama State Census | USA | 493,533 |
| Projects in Final Processing for Publication | Country | Society Sponsorship |
| Marriages of the Deaf in America, 1889-1894 | USA | |
| Nebraska State Census 1885 | USA | * Nebraska State Genealogy Society * Bismarck Mandan Historical and Genealogical Society |
| New England Naturalization Indexes | USA | |
| Gretna Green, Scotland, Marriage Registers 1795-1895 | UK | |
| England & Wales Criminal Registers 1791-1849 (Middlesex only) | UK | |
| England & Wales Criminal Registers 1805-1892 | UK | |
| Lubeck Volkszahlung 1807 (Lubeck Census 1807) | German | |
| Lubeck Volkszahlung 1812 (Lubeck Census 1812) | German | |
| Ontario Canada Marriages | Canada |
| Current Ancestry World Archives Projects |
Country | % Complete | Society Sponsorship |
| Slave manifests Filed at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1807-1860 | USA | 100.00% | |
| New York Naturalization Indexes | USA | 100.00% | |
| Sydney and New South Wales, Sands Street Index, 1861-1930 | USA | 98.00% | |
| Gateshead, Durham, England, Roll of Honour, 1914-1920 | UK | 76% | |
| England, Newspaper Index Cards (Andrews) | UK | 66% | |
| Southern California Naturalization Indexes | USA | 59% | * Southern California Genealogical Society * California State Genealogical Alliance |
| Illinois Naturalization Indexes | USA | 57% | * Illinois State Genealogical Society * Polish Genealogical Society of America |
| Chalmers’ Biographical Dictionary | UK | 52% | |
| New South Wales, Australia, Applications & admissions to Orphas Schools, 1817-1833 | AU | 45% | |
| NYC Naturalization Indexes | USA | 41% | * Jewish Genealogical Society of Southern Nevada |
| Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Piemonte, Italy: Marriage & Death Records | Italy | 27% | * Order Sons of Italy in America * Pursuing Our Italian Names Together * Apellidos Italianos |
| Jacksonville, Florida Area City Directories | USA | 25% | * The Southern Genealogist’s Exchange Society, Inc. |
| Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-20, 22 | UK | 22% | |
| N. California Naturalization Indexes | USA | 21% | * SfGenealogicy.com & * California State Genealogical Alliance * San Mateo County Genealogical Society |
| California, U.S. Naturalizaiton Records – Original Documents, 1795-1972 | USA | 12% | * Southern State Genealogical Alliance * San Diego Genealogical Society |
| Michigan Passenger and Crew Lists, 1902-1954 | USA | 8% | * Farmington (Michigan) Genealogical Society |
| Pennsylvania, U.S. Naturalization Records – Original Documents, 1795-1972 | USA | 6% | |
| IL, MI, IN – Returns from US Military Posts, 1800-1916 | USA | 6% | * Federation of Genealogical Societies |
| Pavia, Lombardia, Italia: Registri di Morte, 1866-1937 (Registers of Deaths) | Italy | 6% | * Order Sons of Italy in America * Pursuing Our Italian Names Together * Apellidos Italianos |
| London, England Early Parish Registers | UK | 4% | |
| Va, WV, NC, SC – Returns from US Military Posts, 1800-1916 | USA | 3% | * Federation of Genealogical Societies |
| TX – Returns form US Military Posts, 1800-1916 | USA | 3% | * Federation of Genealogical Societies |
| New York, U.S. Naturalization Records – Original Documents, 1795-1972 | USA | 2% | |
| KS, NE, OK – Returns from US Military Posts, 1800-1916 | USA | 2% | * Federation of Genealogical Societies * Nebraska State Genealogy Society |
| CO, ID, NS, UT, MXB – Returns from US Military Posts, 1800-1916 | USA | 2% | * Federation of Genealogical Societies |
| Värmland, Sverige: Husförhörslängder, 1694-1895 (Värmland, Sweden: Household Examination Records) | Sweden | 1% | |
| Pavia, Lombardia, Italia: Registri di Matrimonio, 1866-1937 (Registers of Marriage) | Italy | 1% | * Order Sons of Italy in America * Pursuing Our Italian Names Together * Apellidos Italianos |
| Varese, Lombardia, Italia: Registri di Matrimonio, 1866-1937 (Varese marriage Registrations) | Italy | 1% | |
| Varese, Lombardia, Italia: Registri di Morte,, 1866-1937 (Varese Death Registrations) | Italy | 1% |
First, I would like to congratulate the members and staff of this group who worked hard for the success of Ancestry World Archives. Then the same question as Valerie asked: when this would be available for MACs because making it only for one operating system limits the usability as well as portability, a major concern for people like me who are attached with web hosting as we prefer using tools that are very much operating system independent, i.e, perform equally well on all those. So I hope that you guys will be working on this aspect too and will let us have the good news in this regards very soon.
I have been using the World Archive Site since it was launched. I have yet been able to locate a single document or information from southern Italy. Please help. I realize the world is a large place do digitize. However, there are 26 million Italians in the US. A lot of us are interested in our past. I hope you will consider that as you take on new projects
Strange for a community project to repeatedly put up barriers to entry. One year in and the project is still using substandard proprietary software preventing the fastest growing (and most passionate) segments of the internet population from participating.
FamilySearch.org has done an infinitely better job with their indexing project. They chose technical solutions that allow them to support any operating system with minimal effort. Ancestry’s management would be wise to emulate them. The path they’ve taken will require a complete rewrite from the ground up for every platform they attempt to support.
Please,help me find a brother of my grandfother,which emigr.from Russia to USA before 1917.Thanks.Tatiana.
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I’ve asked this question a number of times and have yet to receive an answer: when will this software be available for Macs and other systems? I would think that after a year you’d be ready to expand.