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== Origins ==
== Origins ==
Project Gutenberg was founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, when he created the project's first eBook, a copy of the ''United States Declaration of Independence'', and distributed it over the Internet.<ref>Newby, Gregory B. ''Forty-Five Years of Digitizing Ebooks: Project Gutenberg’s Practices''. Project Gutenberg.</ref> Hart was
Project Gutenberg was founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, when he created the project's first eBook, a copy of the ''United States Declaration of Independence'', and distributed it over the Internet.<ref name=":0">Newby, Gregory B. ''Forty-Five Years of Digitizing Ebooks: Project Gutenberg’s Practices''. Project Gutenberg.</ref> Hart was inspired to create the publication after being granted access to a powerful mainframe computer at the University of Illinois, as it occurred to him that there would be great value in digitizing and distributing literature for its preservation and easier accessibility.<ref name=":0" /> To this day, Project Gutenberg continues to encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks as a part of the archive's motto.<ref name=":1">Das, Rajesh, and Uttam Kumar Hazra. “An Assessment of Educational Resources through ERIC, CORE, PDFdrive and Project Gutenberg.” ''Library Philosophy and Practice'' [Lincoln], April 2019, pp. 1–12.</ref>
 
== Focuses ==
Project Gutenberg predominantly aims to archive work located in the public domain, or works that are not copyrighted and can be shared freely over the internet, to help the archive possess easily distributable literature that would not run into any impediments as a result of copyright infringement.<ref name=":0" /> Publishing works found in the public domain also allows the archive to promote the enabling of literacy through preserving historical significance stemming from literary work from past generations.<ref name=":0" />
 
In addition, Project Gutenberg has grown to support a wide reach of genres since its founding. In the present day, the archival has expanded to possess the following types of literary collections:
 
* Novels<ref name=":1" />
* Poetry<ref name=":1" />
* Short Stories<ref name=":1" />
* Drama<ref name=":1" />
* Cookbooks<ref name=":1" />
* Reference work<ref name=":1" />
* Issues from periodicals of English, French, German, Finnish, Dutch, Italian, and Portuguese languages<ref name=":1" />

Revision as of 21:11, 25 March 2026

Shows a website with several navigation options leading to different preserved eBooks that Project Gutenberg has preserved.
A screenshot from the first ever homepage for Project Gutenberg. At the time, the project is shown to have archived at least 45,000 books.

Project Gutenberg is an archival project aimed at preserving old literature and making it easily accessible to the public for universal use. It is the oldest collection of literary works on the Internet, serving as a digital library for works of many kinds that can be accessed in eBook form, free of charge.

Origins

Project Gutenberg was founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, when he created the project's first eBook, a copy of the United States Declaration of Independence, and distributed it over the Internet.[1] Hart was inspired to create the publication after being granted access to a powerful mainframe computer at the University of Illinois, as it occurred to him that there would be great value in digitizing and distributing literature for its preservation and easier accessibility.[1] To this day, Project Gutenberg continues to encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks as a part of the archive's motto.[2]

Focuses

Project Gutenberg predominantly aims to archive work located in the public domain, or works that are not copyrighted and can be shared freely over the internet, to help the archive possess easily distributable literature that would not run into any impediments as a result of copyright infringement.[1] Publishing works found in the public domain also allows the archive to promote the enabling of literacy through preserving historical significance stemming from literary work from past generations.[1]

In addition, Project Gutenberg has grown to support a wide reach of genres since its founding. In the present day, the archival has expanded to possess the following types of literary collections:

  • Novels[2]
  • Poetry[2]
  • Short Stories[2]
  • Drama[2]
  • Cookbooks[2]
  • Reference work[2]
  • Issues from periodicals of English, French, German, Finnish, Dutch, Italian, and Portuguese languages[2]
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Newby, Gregory B. Forty-Five Years of Digitizing Ebooks: Project Gutenberg’s Practices. Project Gutenberg.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Das, Rajesh, and Uttam Kumar Hazra. “An Assessment of Educational Resources through ERIC, CORE, PDFdrive and Project Gutenberg.” Library Philosophy and Practice [Lincoln], April 2019, pp. 1–12.