Producer OCLC (United States) Cost Free | History 2006 to present Record depth Index & abstract | |
Format coverage archival material descriptions | ||
ArchiveGrid is a collection of over two million archival material descriptions, including MARC records from WorldCat and finding aids harvested from the web. It contains archival collections held by thousands of libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives. ArchiveGrid is described as "the ultimate destination for searching through family histories, political papers, and historical records held in archives around the world."
Contents
History
Research Libraries Group (RLG) was founded in 1974 by three universities (Columbia, Harvard, and Yale) and The New York Public Library. In 1998, RLG launched the RLG Archival Resources database, which offered online access to the holdings of archival collections. RLG began to redesign the database in 2004 in order to make it more useful for researchers. As a result of this redesign, RLG launched ArchiveGrid in March 2006. As a result of a grant, ArchiveGrid was freely accessible until May 31, 2006.
RLG/OCLC Partnership
In 2006, the RLG and the Online Computer Learning Center, Inc. (OCLC) announced the combining of the two organizations. RLG Programs was formed on 1 July 2006 and became part of the OCLC Programs and Research division. ArchiveGrid was offered as an OCLC subscription-based discovery service from 2006 until it was discontinued in 2012. ArchiveGrid became freely-available at that time, although it was not a full production service.
In 2009, RLG Programs became known as RLG Partnership. The OCLC Research Library Partnership replaced the RLG Partnership in 2011. The five-year period of successfully integrating the RLG Partnership into OCLC was completed 30 June 2011.