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About the WorldGenWeb

Last Updated: Monday, 24 April 2017 Written by Administrator Print Email

About the WorldGenWeb

The WorldGenWeb Project was created in 1996 by Dale Schneider in an effort to answer the growing needs of genealogists world-wide who were trying to research their ancestors online. Dale's original goal (as is ours today) was to have every country in the world represented by an online website and hosted by researchers who either live in their own country or who are familiar with their country's resources.

Shortly after the WorldGenWeb Project debuted on the Internet in October of 1996 (it was first located on Dsenter.com) volunteers were recruited to host country websites. By the close of 1996 many of the larger countries in the world had websites online, thanks in part to the early success of it's sister project, The USGenWeb Project (which went online in June of 1996). Throughout the next year, our project continued to recruit volunteers and became firmly established as an online resource for international genealogists.  

Hall of Fame

We would like to thank some of those volunteers who donated their time and talents to the formation and creation of this project.

  • Dale Schneider, WGW Coordinator (1996-1997)
  • Diana Hanson, WGW Coordinator (1997-1998)
  • Kathleen Matelski, WGW Coordinator (1998)
  • Carol White, WGW Coordinator (1997-1998).
  • Carol Haagensen, CaribbeanGenWeb Coordinator and former Board Member (1997-2000)
  • John G. West, BalticSeaGenWeb Coordinator and former Board Member (1998-2000)
  • Pascal Pinan-Lucarre, FranceGenWeb Coordinator and former Board Member (1998-2000)
  • Julie Stocks, Advisory Board member, PacificGenWeb Regional Coordinator (1998-2000).
  • Laura Cook, Advisory Board Member, Mediterranean and South AmericanGenWeb Coordinator (1998-2001)
  • Carol Hepburn, Advisory Board Member, Webmaster, Archives Coordinator, IrelandGenWeb, MiddleEastGenWeb, and UKGenWeb (1997-2001)
  • Charles Wardell, Advisory Board Member, EastEuropeGenWeb (1997 - 2008)
  • Jan Cortez, Advisory Board member, WalesGenWeb, IrelandGenWeb, BritishIslesGenWeb (2005-2007)
  • Mike Jarvis, Advisory Board member, NorthAmGenWeb (1997-2008)
  • Charlotte Meyer, Advisory Board member, South AmericanGenWeb and AsiaGenWeb (1997-2008)
  • Leith Hutton, Advisory Board member, PacificGenWeb (2000-2011)
  • Denise Wells, Advisory Board member, Mediterranean Region (2007-2014).
  • Colleen Clements, Advisory Board member, Eastern Europe Region (2007 - 2014

Project Organization

The WorldGenWeb Project is divided into 11 World Regions. Each region is divided up by countries and each country is divided into individual provinces, states, or counties (terms vary depending on administrative divisions).

The WorldGenWeb Project Advisory Board is responsible for the day to day operation of the Project. Questions or concerns about the project can be addressed in care of the advisory board. Questions regarding the website (html page loading problems or errors - file not found, etc.) can be addressed to the webmaster.

Regional Coordinators are responsible for their own websites and for recruiting and training their own Country Coordinators. Country Coordinator's are responsible for the country website and for recruiting and training county hosts. Please contact the appropriate individual for information regarding regional, country or county-level websites.

How to Join Our Project

We currently have over 400 individual project websites online. We are always seeking interested persons to volunteer to host a county, country or regional website. If you have the desire and are familiar with html and ftp, we encourage you to join our project. To see which sites are available for adoption, visit one of our Regional Websites or contact the Regional Coordinator in your geographical area of interest.

Interested volunteers may wish to review our Policy & Procedures page and our Questions & Answers page.

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