Elephind

From HandWiki
Short description: Search engine for historic digitized newspapers
Elephind
Elephind logo.png
Type of site
Search engine
DissolvedOctober 2023; 9 months ago (2023-10)
Websitewww.elephind.com
LaunchedMay 30, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-05-30)
Current statusShut down

Elephind was a search engine for digitized versions of newspapers from various countries, with the goal of making it possible to search all digitized newspapers from a single website.[1] (As of July 2021), 3,600,000 newspapers were accessible on the website, many of them not accessible through Google. The website was shut down mid-October 2023.

Function

Elephind was a search engine specifically for digitized versions of historical newspapers, allowing the user to freely search across various newspaper archive websites instead of visiting each individual site. When the user clicked on a search result, they were directed to the online archive where it could be accessed.[2] The collection was international, with newspapers from various countries included.[3]

(As of July 2021), 3,600,000 newspapers were accessible on Elephind.[4] Many of the newspapers were on the deep web and could not be accessed through other search engines such as Google.[5]

Optional registration allowed users to bookmark and comment on newspapers.[6]

Elephind used software from Veridian Software, which was spun out of Greenstone.[7]

Termination

Between 8 October and 13 October 2023, the website was shut down. Since then, it only contains the following message:

The Elephind.com online newspaper search system has been taken offline. To view free and searchable online newspapers see the list of newspaper projects on the Veridian website.

References