Digital Archaeology Grants
Supporting scholars, developers, and historians who document, analyze, and preserve the foundational era of the World Wide Web (1990–1999).
Active Funding Programs
Explore grant categories tailored to academic research, community archiving, and technical preservation initiatives.
Early Web History Fellowship
For PhD candidates and postdocs researching socio-cultural impacts of pre-2000 web ecosystems, including GeoCities, WebRings, and early e-commerce.
Technical Preservation Fund
Grants for developers building crawlers, emulators, or rendering engines that accurately reproduce deprecated web standards (HTML 2.0/3.2, frames, early CSS).
Community Archive Initiative
Supporting grassroots projects recovering local digital heritage, regional ISPs, university departments, and non-commercial personal homepages.
Student Research Seed Grant
Micro-grants for undergraduate and master's students conducting pilot studies on early internet culture, digital folklore, or web design evolution.
Application Process
Transparent, peer-reviewed, and designed to minimize administrative overhead for researchers.
Prepare Proposal
Download the template, outline methodology, budget, and preservation deliverables.
Submit & Review
Upload via our portal. Academic board reviews for feasibility, historical value, and technical rigor.
Award & Onboard
Successful applicants sign a preservation agreement. Funds disbursed in two tranches.
Report & Archive
Submit final research outputs. All recovered assets and datasets become open-access.
Eligibility Requirements
We prioritize projects that advance open preservation and academic transparency.
🎓 Academic Institutions
- Enrolled faculty or approved graduate students
- Institutional IRB approval (if applicable)
- Commitment to open-access publication
🔍 Independent Researchers
- Proven track record in digital history/tech
- Clear data management & preservation plan
- Willingness to share raw archives with 1990 Web Archive
🌍 Community & Nonprofits
- Registered 501(c)(3) or equivalent
- Projects focusing on underrepresented web history
- Public outreach or educational component required
Application Resources
Everything you need to prepare a strong proposal and comply with our preservation standards.
Grant Proposal Template (PDF)
Structured format including budget, timeline, and archival deliverables.
Past Recipients & Outcomes
Browse funded projects, published papers, and restored web collections.
Technical Preservation Guidelines
Standards for formatting, checksums, metadata schema, and storage.
Office Hours Calendar
Weekly drop-in sessions with our grants coordinator and archivists.