Who is Footnote?
Since its birth, the internet has proven to be a versatile medium for users
of any particular field of interest. There are infinite pieces of information
which one can gather simply by typing in words and clicking through sites on
the World Wide Web. Along with the informational convenience given by the
internet comes the ability of its surfers to travel back in time, and learn
from the richly documented history of the world. One website that has the
ability to store these memories, and the facilities that give access to those
interested in unlocking the past, is Footnote.
Footnote serves as a virtual museum and memory bank that can allow anyone to
view millions of photos and historic documents online. You can imagine that
you are visiting a museum and browsing through hundreds upon thousands of
records and books that are invaluable to American history, and you are able to
do it in your pj's.
Footnote proudly launched its services to the users of the World Wide Web in
January 2007. In collaboration with the National Archives under Allen
Weinstein, CEO of Footnote, Inc. Russell Wilding signed a partnership that a
greed to digitize more than 4.5 million documents of the National Archives and
make them available for public viewing online. Included within this huge
package are documents on microfilm, photographs, public records, letters, and
tons more. From this and other similar partnerships, subscribers to Footnote
are able to view and share such pieces of American history.
With the added convenience of the internet, searching for historic documents,
newspapers from long ago, significant photographs, public records, and the
like, can now be done with a few clicks on your mouse. Everyone is enjoined to
subscribe for a free membership and a premium membership at Footnote, so one
can browse through the collection and even provide insights on certain
documents and events. Every month, thousands of new files are uploaded to the
virtual collection on Footnote, so the possibilities of what you can find on
their site are endless.
The Footnote website is easy to navigate, and searching for whatever you need
can be done in a snap. Files are easy to find as they are sorted by era, or
you can filter your search by name, topic, event, date, or place according to
your preference. Here is a description of some of the National Archives
collections that you can find online through your membership with Footnote:
The Papers of the Continental Congress contain correspondences and documents
dated from the years 1774 to 1789. You may find letters and papers signed by
United States presidents, diplomatic representatives, and state leaders. You
may also find military reports that were done during the Revolution, as well
as digital copies of the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and other
valuable historic icons of the century.
There are also Civil War photographs taken from the collection of Matthew B.
Brady, considered as the largest and most comprehensive in history. More than
6,000 of the glass plated photos have been placed in digital format, so
subscribers to Footnote can view them. There are also additions from various
photographers who were active during the Civil War, and who were under the
leadership of Brady. The dates of the said photos were from the 1860's to the
1870's, with pictures of buildings, bridges, roads, persons, and more
included.
The collections in the huge database of Footnote are categorized conveniently
by era or period, so that browsing and searching is easier. Examples of the
browsing groups include Early America, which contained documents dated before
1775, and the Revolution, covering three decades of historic pieces from 1775
to 1815. Other significant landmarks in history were recorded during the Civil
War, World War I, and World War II. There are also categories of periods in
American history which indicates post-war events as well as newspaper files
and local records.
Aside from the availability and sheer vastness of memorable pieces you can
access on Footnote, users are given the chance to contribute to the
collection. A huge portion of the subscribers to Footnote provide personal
photos, family documents, and the like, from decades to centuries ago. If you
can picture social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace as a venue for
sharing photos and blogs about one's self, then Footnote works in a similar
fashion, except that historic events are rekindled and memories of the rich
American past are preserved for centuries to come.
Who are the subscribers of Footnote? The digitized collection on Footnote is
accessed by thousands of members who have joined over the past year, from
historians, genealogists, writers, journalists, students, professors, and just
the curious. One does not have to be in the academe to appreciate the rich
lessons one can gather from the resources at Footnote. There are members who
are actually war veterans and relatives of those who have survived the wars.
They share personal experiences through their story pages, as well as provide
digital copies of diary entries, love letters, journals, and more, so that
others can relive the past through their eyes. Anyone can upload anything of
historical value they wish, and other members are free to make comments and
annotations on those documents and photos.
There is a message inbox facility that each member has, so one can communicate
with fellow Footnote members and make sharing of history more fun and more
productive. Members are given the freedom to manage their accounts and set
their own preferences.
It is not that difficult to become a member of the Footnote community, as you
have the option of taking a free membership or having a paid premium
membership. The availability of certain features differs from each type of
account, but nonetheless one can reap the benefits of being able to view
important historical documents online. And these are available to the public
only from the National Archives and Footnote.