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Read All About Advantage Archives

At Advantage Archives we work hard to build strong, community-based partnerships to provide free online access to local history, making it discoverable and easily accessible to anyone, anywhere, at any time, on any device. This access allows communities to understand and connect to their past in a meaningful way.

Through these partnerships, we provide the community the means to explore, discover, learn from, connect with, and share the stories of the people, places, and events that shaped their community.

The Community History Archives are intended to serve as a “portal to the past”, allowing local primary source documents to give an accounting of history as told by the individuals that witnessed it.

How the Archives Work

Resources for the Community History Archives are available at CommunityHistoryArchives.com CHA Resources

This Week in History- June 16 through June 22nd

  Currently, fathers day is celebrated in the United States every year on the third Sunday of June. But this wasn’t always the case. In fact, the first fathers day wasn’t celebrated until 1910. In 1988, the Record Courier published an interview with the cousin of Sonora Dodd, the woman credited with the creation of […]

This Week in History- June 9 through June 15

American Idol has brought to light dozens of famous musicians in the decades since it first aired on June 11, 2002. The show, created by Simon Fuller, was based on a British show titled Pop Idol, which featured the same concept of searching for the best musicians around. The show took the same format for […]

This Week in History: June 2nd – June 8th

On June 5, 2004, President Ronald Reagan died from Alzheimer’s disease. Reagan began his career as an actor before transitioning into politics in 1966, when he became the governor of California. He first ran for president in 1976 but lost the major party ticket bid. Reagan ran again in 1980 and was elected as the […]

Partnering with Educators

Partnering with Educators Support for truth in the classroom starts with access beyond the classroom. Teachers use digitized primary sources to bring local history into modern classrooms. Educators are being asked to teach truth in an environment where truth is increasingly controversial. They’re facing banned books, a censored curriculum, and growing political pressure to sanitize […]

This Week in History: May 26th – June 1st

Imagine being asked, “What are you in for?” and you have to answer “mowing the lawn”. This situation is something that a man from Ohio could have experienced in 2009. On May 30th, the Bellevue Gazette reported that a man had been arrested for mowing grass in Sandusky, Ohio. John Hamilton had grown frustrated with […]

Partnering with Like-Minded Institutions

Partnering with Like-Minded Institutions Access isn’t owned by one organization—it’s shared by all of us. A visual representation of multiple institutions collaborating on public access initiatives. No institution holds the whole story. That’s why we have to work together.Libraries, museums, archives, historical societies, schools—these organizations may operate independently, but they serve a shared purpose: connecting […]

This Week in History: May 19th – May 25

On May 19, 2018, British Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle were married in a lavish royal wedding. The ceremony, which cost approximately £32 million, took place at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle and welcomed around 600 guests. Beyond those invited, hundreds of millions watched the event virtually worldwide, witnessing this historic occasion. […]

Partnerships Are Pivotal

Partnerships Are Pivotal Access isn’t just a mission. It’s a movement—powered by people working together. A collaborative team works together to digitize and organize community history. You can’t defend access in isolation.Digitizing history, making it freely available, and keeping it open to the public isn’t something most institutions can take on alone. The only realistic […]

This Week in History- May 12th – May 18th

Let’s start at the beginning, the birth of advertising, with a couple of ads from the 1890s. This era of advertising isn’t necessarily remarkable. Advertisements were fairly straightforward, using the hard sell tactic to get their point across. They would include the name of the business, what they were selling, and where you can find […]

Beyond The Building

Beyond The Building If history is locked behind doors, then it’s not truly public. A building can’t serve the public if people can’t reach it. Physical access is no longer enough, especially when hours are cut, collections are removed, or the public is pushed away altogether. Digitization changes the equation. It removes physical and logistical […]

This Week in History- May 5th – May 11th

After 10 years, the hit sitcom “Friends” aired its final episode on May 6th, 2004. Titled “The Last One”, viewers watched as the characters they had come to love finally got resolution for their storylines. For those not familiar with Friends, the show’s premise was centered around a group of 6 friends as they navigate […]

The Responsibility of Open Access

The Responsibility of Open Access Digitization isn’t about paper—it’s about power. Digitized documents create a bridge between the past and present. There is a campaign underway to control the narrative of our past—an agenda that seeks not only to restrict access to historical records, but to reframe, rewrite, and selectively erase the stories that challenge […]

This Week in History- April 28th – May 4th

There are two major ways that May 1st is celebrated around the world. The first is International Labor Day, created by the American Federation of Labor in 1886 to protest poor working conditions. In 1886, it was incredibly common for workers to put in 16-hour days, so the AFL called for a day of striking […]

This Week in History- April 21st – April 27th

Earth Day takes place every year on April 22nd, and has for decades been a day for people to get outside and help Mother Nature. Many communities will come together to plant trees or pick up trash alongside the highways to celebrate. One writer at The Times Record, published in Fort Smith, Arkansas, applauded the […]

When Access Is Limited, So Is Accountability

When Access Is Limited, So Is Accountability A Weekly Perspective Access and accountability are often bound together—when one is removed, the other fades with it. Lately, it feels like I’ve lost all sense of time. The pace of change has been so rapid, so unrelenting, that it’s difficult to process just how much damage has […]

This Week in History- April 14th – April 20th

On April 13th, 2002, in Bound Brook, New Jersey, hundreds of people gathered to re-enact the Revolutionary War battle that happened there decades ago. The Battle of Bound Brook took place on April 13th, 1777, where British forces used the element of surprise to attack the Continental Army. Now, in Bound Brook, New Jersey, residents […]

This Week in History- April 7th – April 13th

The August National Golf Club was founded by famous golfers Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts in 1932. The 365-acre course was built after the two purchased a property which was previously a plant nursery (and an antebellum plantation) called Fruitland Nurseries. The course first opened to limited members in December of 1932 and formally opened […]

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