Looking Up Old Links Using the Wayback Machine

When reading genealogy articles or reports, sometimes I like to look up the references. Occasionally, online links provided in the citation no longer work. But all is not lost! The Wayback Machine stores old versions of many webpages.

The Wayback Machine

The Wayback Machine is run by The Internet Archive, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco. They create a digital library of what is on the internet.1 This means that anything on the internet will likely be out there forever, which is both good and bad.

One of My Citations

I started writing my blog article about the Civil War Draft back in June, but I didn’t post it until July. Before I posted it, I checked my links to make sure they still worked. And to my shock, two of my links (both Acts of Congress on the Library of Congress website) no longer worked! The citations weren’t even that old!

Upon investigation, it appears the Library of Congress is making some changes to their website in regard to the collection containing the Acts of Congress. The links redirect to the “About this Collection” page. Perhaps when the Library of Congress finishes updating their website, the link will work again.

I left the citation in the blog, because that was the source I used. Perhaps I should have updated it to use the link on the Wayback Machine. But I didn’t. So, in case someone wants to look at the citations, here is how to look up broken links (specifically the one in my last article) on the Wayback Machine.

Using the Wayback Machine

My citation below contains a link that no longer works (as of the date of posting). Notice I accessed the document 19 Jun 2021. If you click on the link in the citation below, it displays the content of “About this Collection.”

Thirty-Seventh United States Congress, Session 3, Chapter 75, Sections 1-2; digital image, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/37th-congress/session-3/c37s3ch75.pdf: accessed 19 Jun 2021).

To find the page I used last month, you can go to the Wayback Machine and put my link into their search bar.

Wayback Machine Screenshot

The last date The Internet Archive captured the page that I had was on 24 April 2021. It had been nearly two months since the Archive last captured the page, but I hoped that it was the same. I clicked on 24 April, the last date the page was saved, and clicked on the link. It was the same document I was using!

Never used the Wayback Machine? Try it for yourself! You can use this example to practice, or use another link you know doesn’t work anymore. I don’t use the Wayback Machine often, but it is still a useful tool to be aware of. I’m not sure what inspired me to check my links, because I kept them as is and didn’t change my citation, but I’m glad I did because I realize this is a tool some may not be aware of.

  1. “About the Internet Archive,” The Internet Archive (https://archive.org: accessed 5 July 2021). ↩

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