Archive-It

Archive-It is part of the Internet Archive’s effort to preserve our digital documents. It aims at organizations, offering them a chance to construct curated collections of their web documents and sites, collections that can then be searched later. One of the main partner institutions is the University of Toronto.

Of the collections that already exist, Slawyers might be most interested in the following:

• Canadian Political Interest Groups

  “Canadian Political Parties and Political Interest Groups will archive the websites of all of the national Canadian political parties, and a number of special interest groups across the political spectrum.” [30 sites]

• National Government Statistical Web Sites

  “The web sites of statistical agencies of countries may contain data, reports, statistical yearbooks, press releases, methodological guides, and other information of continuing interest to social scientists and historians. Approximately 70 web sites from Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Eurasia, East Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Oceania, Russia and Eastern Europe, South Asia, and Southeast Asia are included.” [84 sites]

• University of Toronto Web Archives (University of Toronto)

  “The University of Toronto Web Archives collection is an extension of the holdings of the University Archives which is responsible for the appraisal, acquisition, preservation and use of University records of permanent value and the private records of individuals and organizations associated with Canada’s largest university. The Archive includes sites created by the University community in the utoronto domain.” [29 sites]

• Canadian Labour Unions

  “A collection of the documents published on the websites of Canada’s public sector unions, private sector unions, and labour federations. The collection is national in scope. Most websites include administrative and organizational information, press releases and newsletters, and collective bargaining information (including some collective agreements).” [62 sites]

The great bulk of the sites archived are U.S.-centric, not surprisingly. But there is a sprinkling of general interest material — a few collections, for instance, that relate to Islam.