Yellow Pages for the Past Web
Since 2021, I have been collecting and digitizing printed reference books that provide categorized listings of Internet resources from the late 1990s and early 2000s. Often marketed as "yellow pages" for the Internet, these books were a common sight in bookstores around the world in the 1990s and early 2000s.
I am working on my dissertation project tracing the history of these books: how these books were producd and published, why they stayed popular throughout the 1990s when search engines and online directories were readily available, and how they shaped people’s early experiences of the web.
I am also digitizing these books to create an aggregated database of historical URLs from the late 1990s to early 2000s. For each unique URL, I collect archived snapshot timestamps from the Wayback Machine, the number of its appearances across all books in my collection, and the title and description from each appearance. For now, you can browse and search parts of the digitized collection at dir.pastinter.net.
This project received the 2024 Rhizome Microgrant.
→ Visit: the pastinter.net directory → Did you write or use one of these books back in the day?
