I am guessing that most of the genealogists who live in the states that have digital archives are unaware of their state's websites and, even more likely, those outside of the state are even less knowledgeable about these websites. In the state of Alabama, there is the Alabama Department of Archives and History Digital Collections as well as the AlabamaMosaic.org and the Encyclopedia of Alabama. All three of these websites contain significant collections of digital resources about the people and history of Alabama.
The Encyclopedia of Alabama is described as follows:
The Encyclopedia of Alabama is a free, online reference resource on Alabama’s history, culture, geography, and natural environment. It was developed by the Alabama Humanities Foundation and Auburn University with generous financial support from across the state. Auburn University hosts EOA's editorial office through the Office of University Outreach, in partnership with University Libraries and the Office of Information Technology.The Encyclopedia of Alabama joins a number of other state-sponsored online encyclopedias. Here is the list from the website:
- ConnecticutHistory
- Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture
- Encyclopedia of Chicago
- Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
- Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
- Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture
- Encyclopedia of Puerto Rico
- Encyclopedia Virginia
- Guampedia
- Handbook of Texas Online
- HistoryLink.org: The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History
- Kansapedia
- KnowLA, The Encyclopedia of Louisiana
- MNopedia
- NCpedia
- New Georgia Encyclopedia
- North Carolina History Project
- Ohio History Central
- Online Nevada Encyclopedia
- Oregon Encyclopedia
- Puerto Rico Encyclopedia
- Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
- The Canadian Encyclopedia
- Utah History Encyclopedia
- West Virginia Encyclopedia
- WyoHistory
Another extensive list of online encyclopedias is found in the Wikipedia article entitled, "List of online encyclopedias." Another list is found on the Library of Congress website in an article entitled, "State Digital Resources: Memory Projects, Online Encyclopedias, Historical & Cultural Materials Collections." A list almost identical to the one above is found on a website sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities called EDSITEment! or edsitement.neh.gov.
When you are doing research in a particular state, you might want to investigate the online, free resources provided by the state's government.
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