People Move On
Nov 27th, 2008 by sharbrough
Since the beginning, we’ve tried to publish a “balanced diet” at Footnote. Military records, vital records, newspapers, immigration records, and some other small amounts of essential nutrients. I’ve considered this variety vital to the health of the site, metaphorically speaking.
Internet startups are not immune to the laws of the marketplace. During the past year, the budget for publishing content has declined gradually. It’s reached a point where we are not able to publish the variety of titles that I feel are critical for our customers, and our site. Opinions on this topic vary inside Footnote, and last week they informed me that I would be let go.
Today, I’m not quite as much of a Footnote insider as I was a week ago. This is an amicable parting, from all indications. I expect to keep some public speaking commitments, and to assist in the preparation of some indexes. And today, the day to be thankful, I am looking back at what we’ve done at Footnote, and I see a lot to be thankful for.
Two years ago, there was not a Footnote.com website. It went live on 10-Jan-2007. Today, there are over 45 million images online. Footnote indexes and searches are free, so that people can see if the record is one that they want before having to decide whether to subscribe or not. Most of the content is unique on the internet, and most of it links to some kind of an original record.
There are over 5 million naturalization documents online. Three million pages of newspapers. Three million pages of vital records. Almost 6 million pages on the War for Independence. And over 50 million pages on the War Between the States (before you tell me that I’m counting too many pages, I’d like to point out that the 1860 census is part of the civil war collection, and that each line of that census is counted as a document). There are almost 100 million “Footnote pages” that contain the entirety of the Social Security Death Index.
There are almost 3 million pages of WWII records, including almost 50,000 Air Force photos that have rich captions and catalogs.
And then there is the odd stuff. UFO Reports. State Department Correspondence. FBI Reports. Dawes Packets. Records of the American Colonization Society. The virtual Vietnam Memorial. Almost 50,000 user-contributed images.
Everyone at Footnote believes that we have accomplished something special, and done it in a very short time. Today, on a day for reflection for our good fortune, I’m thankful that I had the chance to be a part of this audacious effort. I’m also grateful for the contributions of my genealogy colleagues around the country and in the UK and Ireland, who gave generously of their knowledge, skills, and friendship to help me in the part I played.
And if things go as I expect, I’ll have more time to post articles in this blog about what’s in that giant haystack, and how readers might find records of interest to them.
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. Bring on the Season of Peace.
