Internet Archive now official custodian of Aruba’s entire history

The Internet Archive, a digital library offering free access to collections of digitized materials, has reportedly become the official custodian of an entire nation’s history for the first time.

According to an investigation by WIRED, the Internet Archive’s Aruba Collection hosts digitized versions of Aruba’s National Library, National Archives, and other institutions including an archaeology museum and the University of Aruba. So far, the collection contains 101,376 items, around one for every island resident. This includes 40,000 documents, 60,000 images, and seven 3D objects.

The Internet Archive website states the importance of collecting artifacts to preserve culture and heritage. “Without such artifacts, civilization has no memory and no mechanism to learn from its successes and failures,” it continues. With more artifacts in digital form, the Archive believes its mission is to help safeguard them and create an Internet library for researchers, historians, and scholars.

Aruba leads the way as the FIRST nation to sign a statement safeguarding the digital rights of memory organizations online.