Saturday Sites: Issue 02

Introduction

A few months ago, I was trying to show a friend an old blog post that changed how I thought about web design. I remembered the title, the layout, even the goofy header image, but when I typed in the URL…

404. Page not found.

The blog had been shut down. No redirect, no archive, nothing. Just gone.

It hit me then how much of the internet we take for granted and how much disappears without a trace. Old websites, early memes, free tools, entire communities. All wiped out like they never existed.

That moment sent me down a rabbit hole:
Is there a way to preserve the internet’s memory?

Turns out, there is and this week’s site does exactly that.

A Library for the Entire Internet

That’s where Archive.org comes in.

It’s a non-profit digital library that preserves snapshots of websites, books, software, music, and more all completely free. Think of it as the Wayback Machine for the web, giving you access to content that would otherwise be lost to time.

A brief history

The Internet Archive was founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle, a computer engineer and digital librarian who had one bold goal:

To archive the entire Internet.

Back then, the web was still young and already, sites were disappearing. Kahle realized the internet was evolving too fast for its own memory, and important knowledge, creativity, and culture could vanish without anyone noticing.

To preserve it, he built the Wayback Machine, which began taking snapshots of websites and storing them forever. That small idea eventually grew into one of the largest digital preservation projects in the world.

Today, Archive.org holds:

• 850+ billion web pages

• 40 million books and texts

• 15 million audio recordings

• 9 million videos

• 2 million software titles

And it’s all free, maintained by a nonprofit team and supported by libraries, universities, and volunteers across the globe.

How to Use It

The most well-known feature of Archive.org is the Wayback Machine. A tool that lets you view old versions of almost any website.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Go to web.archive.org

2. Paste in a URL. Anything from a personal blog to a major news site

3. Hit enter, and you’ll see a timeline of all the snapshots it has

4. Click a year, pick a date, and boom, you’re browsing the web like it’s 2003

You can explore how websites have evolved, dig up deleted content, or revisit nostalgic pages you thought were long gone. It’s not perfect (some sites have gaps or broken media), but it’s the closest thing we have to an internet time machine.

Beyond the Wayback Machine, Archive.org also lets you read millions of free books, watch old documentaries and movies, stream rare audio recordings, and even play classic video games right in your browser. It’s a one-stop hub for exploring the internet’s forgotten corners.

Final Thoughts

The internet moves fast. And forgets even faster.
Blogs vanish. Tools shut down. History gets rewritten or erased entirely.

But Archive.org is doing something rare:
It’s preserving what the internet was so we can still access what would otherwise be lost.

Whether you’re feeling nostalgic, doing research, or just curious, the Wayback Machine is a reminder that not everything online has to disappear.

Give it a try. Search up a favorite site from your childhood. You might be surprised by what’s still there.

See you next Saturday with another hidden gem 💎

– Caleb

P.S. Know someone who loves weird or useful websites? Forward them this email or send them here to subscribe: saturdaysites.com

Have a cool website I should check out? Just hit reply, I read every message.

Saturday Sites