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Wayback Machine Stats
498 million pages captured per day
800,000 viewers per day
1,250+ libraries and partner organizations creating collections through Archive-IT
Cultural & Historical Highlights
Earliest archived pages
Web Archive 96
Web Archive 96 was a project of the Internet Archive & Smithsonian Institution to archive websites associated with the 1996 U.S. presidential election.
Web Archive 96 is available via the Wayback Machine at https://web.archive.org/web/19971011050541/http://www.archive.org/smith…
Press release from Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (March 7, 1996).
Early writings about web archiving:
“Preserving the Internet” by Brewster Kahle in Scientific American (written & submitted in 1996, published in 1997).
Examples of important defunct sites preserved:
MTV News - Link
Spangler, Todd. “MTV News Website Goes Dark, Archives Pulled Offline” Variety, June 24, 2024.
Alex, Michael. “The Disappearance of MTV News’ Online Archive Is a Tragedy: Guest Post by the Website’s Founding Editor” Variety, June 27, 2024.
Graham, Mark. “New Ways to Search Archived Music News” Internet Archive Blog, July 10, 2024.
Alex, Michael. “MTV News and the Wayback Machine (video)” YouTube, October 21, 2024.
Gawker - Link
Matsakis, Louise. “The Gawker Archives Aren't Going Anywhere” Wired, January 31, 2018.
End of Term Web Archive - Link
Lucas, Julian. “The Data Hoarders Resisting Trump’s Purge,” The New Yorker, March 14, 2025.
Hsu, Tiffany. “The White House frames the past by erasing parts of it,” The New York Times, April 5, 2025.

Examples of important pages that would be lost except for the Wayback Machine:

CNN: "After a backlash, National Park Service restores old Underground Railroad webpage that prominently features Harriet Tubman"

Impact Stories
Canadian Musician Relies on Wayback Machine for Immigration Documentation: https://blog.archive.org/2023/06/26/canadian-musician-utilizes-wayback-…
When Canadian violist David Samuel applied for U.S. permanent residency under the “extraordinary ability” category, he relied on the Wayback Machine to recover evidence of his international music career. By accessing archived concert programs and web postings, he was able to document his accomplishments and build a stronger case, calling the Wayback Machine “an important tool” in the process.
Love, Loss, and Archives: https://blog.archive.org/2020/03/19/love-loss-and-archives/
When Paul Lindner lost his wife Julie to cancer, he turned to the Internet Archive to help preserve her memory. By recovering emails, Usenet posts, music, and websites through the Wayback Machine and other archival tools, Paul built a rich memorial site that captures Julie’s humor, passions, and digital life—ensuring her memory would endure.
From Fake News to Open Data: Studying the Histories of Digital Media Using the Wayback Machine: https://blog.archive.org/2023/10/09/from-fake-news-to-open-data-studyin…
Researchers Liliana Bounegru and Jonathan Gray of King’s College London use the Wayback Machine to study the evolution of digital media, from fake news monetization strategies to the politics of open data. Their investigations have supported international journalism collaborations, informed public policy research, and equipped students with tools to trace how the web—and society—has changed over time. As Bounegru puts it: “It is an essential tool for our research.”
The Wayback Machine’s Vital Role in Investigative Work: https://blog.archive.org/2023/07/10/preserving-the-past-empowering-the-…
Laura Ranca of Tactical Tech’s Exposing the Invisible project calls the Wayback Machine “a precious tool” in her work training journalists and researchers to investigate and preserve digital evidence. From uncovering altered or deleted web pages to retrieving decades-old government reports, the Wayback Machine empowers investigators to hold power to account and protect knowledge for future generations.

President George W. Bush meets with former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter and President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, in the Oval Office of the White House. White House photo by Eric Draper.
Interestingly, everything changed on January 6, 2021. An insurrection, funded by US President Donald Trump, stormed the US Capitol in Washington during the congressional certification of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's win, resulting in five deaths and prompting the evacuation of lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence. Trump later pardoned all those convicted of their crimes. https://www.onthisday.com/events/january/6

Reginald Fessenden