UpdateBot at 06:53, 22 June 2022

2022-06-22T06:53:32Z

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{{short description|Website dedicated to the preservation of electronic public domain texts}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Update|date=December 2020}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2020}}
}}
{{Infobox website
| name = Internet Sacred Text Archive
| logo = Internet Sacred Text Archive logo.jpg
| logo_size = 200px
| screenshot =
| caption =
| url = {{URL|http://www.sacred-texts.com/}}
| commercial = No
| type = [[Digital library]]
| registration = None
| owner = John Bruno Hare
| author = John Bruno Hare
| launch_date = March 9, 1999
| current_status =
| revenue =
}}

The '''Internet Sacred Text Archive''' ('''ISTA''') is a [[Santa Cruz, California]]-based [[website]] dedicated to the preservation of electronic [[public domain]] religious texts.

==History==
The website was first opened to the public on March 9, 1999 by John Bruno Hare (July 8, 1955 – April 27, 2010), in [[Santa Cruz, California]].<ref name="ISTA_about">{{Cite web |last=Hare |first=John Bruno |title=About Sacred-Texts |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/about.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061108010956/http://www.sacred-texts.com/about.htm |archive-date=2006-11-08 |website=Internet Sacred Text Archive |oclc=939385628}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sabharwal |first=Arjun |title=Digital Humanities and Material Religion: An Introduction |date=2022-04-04 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-060875-5 |editor-last=Clark |editor-first=Emily Suzanne |series=Introductions to Digital Humanities – Religion |volume=6 |location=Berlin |pages=71–72 |chapter=Digital Scriptures, Material Religion, and the Digital Humanities: An Interdisciplinary Framework for Curating Digitized Sacred Texts Online |doi=10.1515/9783110608755-004 |oclc=1285775408 |editor-last2=Mc Bride Lindsey |editor-first2=Rachel}}</ref> Hare started building the website from his home in the late 1990s, as "an intellectual challenge". At the time, he was working as a software engineer with a [[dot-com company]], and started by scanning over 1,000 public domain books on religion, folklore and mythology.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Napoli |first=Lisa |date=November 25, 2004 |title=Sacred Pages |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/25/technology/circuits/25diar.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210024046/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/25/technology/circuits/25diar.html |archive-date=December 10, 2008 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Turner |first=Ramona |date=2009-08-11 |title=Online Religious Book Publisher Seeks Growth |language=en-US |work=Santa Cruz Sentinel |url=https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/general-news/20090811/online-religious-book-publisher-seeks-growth |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623184443/http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/general-news/20090811/online-religious-book-publisher-seeks-growth |archive-date=2016-06-23 |issn=1531-0817}}</ref> The reason for its founding was the promotion of religious tolerance through knowledge.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kent-Drury |first=Roxanne M. |url=http://archive.org/details/usinginternetpri0000kent_y5a0 |title=Using Internet Primary Sources to Teach Critical Thinking Skills in World Literature |date=2005 |publisher=Libraries Unlimited |isbn=978-0-313-32009-5 |series=Libraries Unlimited Professional Guides in School Librarianship |location=Westport, Connecticut |pages=41–43 |chapter=Religion and Folklore |oclc=717114746}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Jacobs |first=Mary A. |date=2003-05-29 |title=On the Web |page=6 |work=The Record |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104138278/on-the-web/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621025003/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104138278/on-the-web/ |archive-date=2022-06-21 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Its texts are organized into 77 different categories. The maintenance costs for the website—which {{As of|2006|lc=on}} received anywhere from five hundred thousand to two million visits a day—are funded by sales of the website on [[DVD]], [[CD-ROM]], or [[USB flash drive]] for monetary donations.<ref name="ISTA_about" />

==Contents==
The Internet Sacred Text Archive lists three general links, World Religions, Traditions, and Mysteries. The first leads to the texts of the Abrahamic religions, as well as secondary sources describing them. The second leads to indigenous religions, including transcriptions of [[Oral tradition|oral myth]]s. The third leads to [[Nostradamus]]'s writings, descriptions of [[Atlantis]], and pagan texts. The main page has a site map that is organized alphabetically.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Roberts |first=Joni |last2=Drost |first2=Carol |last3=Valentine |first3=Barbara |last4=Case |first4=Susan B. |last5=Jobnson |first5=Wendell |date=February 2002 |title=Internet Reviews |url=https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/article/view/22520 |url-status=live |journal=College & Research Libraries News |language=en-US |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=132–133 |doi=10.5860/crln.63.2.132 |issn=0099-0086 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620081543/https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/article/view/22520 |archive-date=2021-06-20}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Christian Classics Ethereal Library]]
* [[List of digital library projects]]
* [[New Advent]]
* [[Wikisource]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/ The Internet Sacred Text Archive]
* {{YouTube|lG1yFHh-mms|Remembering John Bruno Hare, Founder of Internet Sacred Texts Archive}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1999 establishments in California]]
[[Category:American digital libraries]]
[[Category:Companies based in Santa Cruz County, California]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 1999]]
[[Category:Preservation (library and archival science)]]

Internet Sacred Text Archive - Revision history

UpdateBot at 06:53, 22 June 2022