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Minutes of your time could help preserve decades.

The Ancestry World Archives Project is a collaborative effort that has allowed thousands of people around the world to help preserve history that would otherwise be lost. Would you like to give back to the genealogy community? Help families discover more of their stories and share them with future generations?

The Ancestry World Archives Project lets you help us bring free historical record collections to the public. Contributors become the first to see new collections as they type in information that creates searchable record indexes.

Get Started

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Please take a moment to log in above or register with Ancestry.com before downloading the World Archives Project software and getting started.

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Watch our helpful training video to see how easy it is to be part of the World Archives Project.

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How does it work?

We gather historical records and scan them into our system.

You enter facts from records to create a searchable index.

We add your index to Ancestry.com FREE to everyone.

Everyone gets more hints and better search results.

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Featured World Archives Projects

  • Project Name Difficulty Project progress

    • Kansas, City and County Census, 1919-1978
      Easy
      28%
    • Liverpool, United Kingdom, Crew Lists 1860-1919
      Average
      59%
    • New South Wales, Australia, Government Gazettes, 1853-1899
      Easy
      85%

All Active World Archives Projects

  • Project Name Difficulty Project progress

    • Cartes électorales de Paris et ses environs et d’autres villes françaises, 1900-1932 (France Electoral Cards)
      Average
      21%
    • Delaware, Land Records, 1677-1947
      Average
      40%
    • Dorset, England, Quarter Session Order Books, 1625-1951
      Advanced
      66%
    • Georgia, Control Register of Convicts, 1817-1976
      Average
      4%
    • Kansas, City and County Census, 1919-1978
      Easy
      28%
    • Liverpool, United Kingdom, Crew Lists 1860-1919
      Average
      59%
    • Lübeck, Germany, Citizenship Register, 1591-1919
      Average
      70%
    • New South Wales, Australia, Government Gazettes, 1853-1899
      Easy
      85%
    • Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, The Ottawa Journal, 1885-1980
      Average
      27%
    • Pennsylvania, Genealogical Scrapbooks and County Ledgers
      Easy
      16%
    • Tennessee, Early Land Registers
      Average
      13%
    • Tulare County, California, Sheriff's Office and Prison Records, 1874-1963
      Easy
      25%
    • U.S. Southern Claims Commission, Disallowed and Barred Claims, 1871-1880
      Advanced
      2%
    • USHMM - Czech Republic, Social Welfare and Repatriation Records of Holocaust Survivors, 1939-1948
      Average
      16%
    • USHMM - Krakow, Poland, Applications for ID Cards for Jews during World War II (Part 4)
      Average
      81%
    • USHMM - Odessa, Ukraine, Selected Holocaust Records from Romanian Occupation during World War II
      Average
      14%
    • USHMM – Poland, Lòdz Ghetto Register Books, 1939-1944 (Part 1)
      Average
      54%
    • West Yorkshire, England, Prison Records,1801-1914
      Average
      5%

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