Roots & Branches

We can't believe it's been only been a year since the first time Archives.com exhibited at a family history conference - NGS 2011! So much has happened since then it's amazing to look back at how far we've come. This year we're back again, this time in Cincinnati, with a new look and we can't wait for the conference to begin!

Tomorrow Joe Godfrey, Product Director for Archives.com, will be addressing NGS attendees before the Opening Session. Make sure to come early to get a good seat. You'll learn more about where Archives.com is headed, and why we're psyched about joining with the Ancestry.com team. (Read the announcement here). Read More »

It's been one month since the release of the 1940 census. Whether you've found family members on the National Archives website at 1940census.archives.gov or found them here on Archives.com using the growing number of indexes we have available, you might wonder what some things in the census mean.

Here we'd like to answer some common questions to help you more easily find your family, and better understand these records.

The "X" In a Circle or In Parentheses:
The circled X or an X in parentheses shows who gave the enumerator the information for the household. This can help you judge the accuracy of the answers. Read More »

REDWOOD CITY, CA, April 25, 2012 --Inflection, a Silicon Valley Big Data startup, today announced the sale of its family history website Archives.com to Ancestry.com Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOM) for $100 million in cash. Archives.com will continue under Inflection leadership until the completion of customary closing conditions.

"The sale is an exciting moment for Inflection and the broader family history community," said Inflection CEO Matthew Monahan. "Thanks to Archives.com General Manager Joe Godfrey's inspired leadership and our extraordinary team, Archives.com has quickly become one of family history's most dynamic web properties. Our plan for a simple and affordable family history experience will be accelerated thanks to Ancestry's deep expertise and resources." Read More »

Today, Archives.com has made the entire 1940 census name index for Colorado available to search for free at Archives.com/1940census. There you can search all 1940 census records from Colorado, and view the images, at no cost.

This is the second state to be made available on Archives.com from the 1940 census, and more will be added continually!

Kudos to the tremendous effort of the 1940 U.S. Census Community Project volunteers who are helping to bring these records online in record time. If you're not involved already, this important national service project needs you! Read More »

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 17, 2012 - Archives.com, a website that makes family history research simple and affordable, is pleased to announce its partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to digitize and index 1,000 reels of microfilm containing millions of baptism, confirmation, marriage, and funeral records. Archives.com will make these records available online for the first time as part of its ongoing effort to expand its collection of over 2.1 billion historical records.

With the help of digitization and indexing partners, Archives.com will create digital indexes of these records. The documents cover Lutheran congregations throughout the U.S., and will be accompanied by images of the original parish register ledger books. Dating from 1793-1940, these new collections will help users uncover valuable information about their ancestors that isn't available anywhere else online. Read More »

Last week, Archives.com and the U.S. National Archives made the entire U.S. 1940 census available digitally at 1940census.archives.gov. While census images are hugely valuable, the lack of a name index can impede speedy searching. To help remedy this, Archives.com and other like-minded family history organizations have sponsored the 1940 U.S. Census Community Project, a national service effort that will index 3.8 million census images by name. Archives.com is proud to... Read More »

After 72 long years, the 1940 census was released on April 2, 2012. Take a peek at the records of some famous American icons who are included in the 1940 census. Read More »

The 1940 U.S. census launch has been enormous. Whether it's the scale of the census data or the huge amount of traffic to the census site (http://1940census.archives.gov/), everything about the past few days has been big! Archives.com thinks a closer look into this enormous undertaking is in order. Check it out! Read More »

The April 2nd release of the 1940 U.S. Census proved one thing: America hasn't gone this gaga over something since, well, Lady Gaga. While Archives.com engineers have been tirelessly working to accommodate the massive rush of traffic to the site, the Design team has been feeling a little left out. Here's their oh-so-helpful contribution. Oh, artists! Read More »

Our engineers have been working tirelessly throughout the night to improve the reliability of the 1940 census website and we've made some great progress.

Some highlights include... Read More »