Background, History and Philosophy

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="client-nojs" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"/> <title>Background, History and Philosophy | Project Gutenberg</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/gutenberg/style.css?v=1.1"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/gutenberg/collapsible.css?1.1"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/gutenberg/new_nav.css?v=1.321231"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/gutenberg/pg-desktop-one.css"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="keywords" content="books, ebooks, free, kindle, android, iphone, ipad"/> <meta name="google-site-verification" content="wucOEvSnj5kP3Ts_36OfP64laakK-1mVTg-ptrGC9io"/> <meta name="alexaVerifyID" content="4WNaCljsE-A82vP_ih2H_UqXZvM"/> <link rel="copyright" href="https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="/gutenberg/favicon.ico" sizes="16x16" /> <meta property="og:title" content="Project Gutenberg" /> <meta property="og:type" content="website" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://www.gutenberg.org/" /> <meta property="og:description" content="Project Gutenberg is a library of free eBooks." /> <meta property="fb:admins" content="615269807" /> <meta property="fb:app_id" content="115319388529183" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Project Gutenberg" /> <meta property="og:image" content="https://www.gutenberg.org/gutenberg/pg-logo-144x144.png" /> </head> <body> <div class="container"><nav>  <a id="main_logo" href="/" class="no-hover"> <img src="/gutenberg/pg-logo-129x80.png" alt="Project Gutenberg" draggable="false" /> </a>  <div id="menu"> <label for="tm" id="toggle-menu">Menu<span class="drop-icon">▾</span></label> <input type="checkbox" id="tm" /> <ul class="main-menu cf"> <li> <a href="/about/">About <span class="drop-icon">▾</span> </a> <label title="Toggle Drop-down" class="drop-icon" for="sm0">▾</label> <input type="checkbox" id="sm0" /> <ul class="sub-menu"> <li><a href="/about/">About Project Gutenberg</a></li> <li><a href="/policy/collection_development.html">Collection Development</a></li> <li><a href="/about/contact_information.html">Contact Us</a></li> <li><a href="/about/background/">History & Philosophy</a></li> <li><a href="/policy/permission.html">Permissions & License</a></li> <li><a href="/policy/privacy_policy.html">Privacy Policy</a></li> <li><a href="/policy/terms_of_use.html">Terms of Use</a></li> </ul> </li> <li> <a href="/ebooks/">Search and Browse <span class="drop-icon">▾</span> </a> <label title="Toggle Drop-down" class="drop-icon" for="sm8">▾</label> <input type="checkbox" id="sm8" /> <ul class="sub-menu"> <li><a href="/ebooks/">Book Search</a></li> <li><a href="/ebooks/bookshelf/">Bookshelves</a></li> <li><a href="/browse/scores/top">Frequently Downloaded</a></li> <li><a href="/ebooks/offline_catalogs.html">Offline Catalogs</a></li> </ul> </li> <li> <a href="/help/">Help <span class="drop-icon">▾</span> </a> <label title="Toggle Drop-down" class="drop-icon" for="sm3">▾</label> <input type="checkbox" id="sm3" /> <ul class="sub-menu"> <li><a href="/help/">All help topics →</a></li> <li><a href="/help/copyright.html">Copyright How-To</a></li> <li><a href="/help/errata.html">Errata, Fixes and Bug Reports</a></li> <li><a href="/help/file_formats.html">File Formats</a></li> <li><a href="/help/faq.html">Frequently Asked Questions</a></li> <li><a href="/policy/">Policies →</a></li> <li><a href="/help/public_domain_ebook_submission.html">Public Domain eBook Submission</a></li> <li><a href="/help/submitting_your_own_work.html">Submitting Your Own Work</a></li> <li><a href="/help/mobile.html">Tablets, Phones and eReaders</a></li> <li><a href="/attic/">The Attic →</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/donate/">Donate</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="donate"> <div class="searchbox"> <form method="get" action="/ebooks/search/" accept-charset="utf-8" enctype="multipart/form-data" class="searchbox"> <input type="text" value="" id="menu-book-search" name="query" class="searchInput" title="Quick search" tabindex="20" size="20" maxlength="80" placeholder=" Quick search" /> <input type="submit" name="submit_search" value="Go!" style="vertical-align:middle;" /> </form> </div> <form class="donatelink" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="new"> <p><a href="/donate/">Ways to donate</a></p> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_s-xclick" /> <input type="hidden" name="hosted_button_id" value="XKAL6BZL3YPSN" /> <input class="donbtn" type="image" src="/pics/en_US.gif" name="submit" alt="Donate via PayPal" /> </form> </div> </nav> <div class="page_content"> <h1 id="background-history-and-philosophy-of-project-gutenberg">Background, History and Philosophy of Project Gutenberg</h1> <p>How did Project Gutenberg begin, and grow? What motivated its founder, Michael Hart? What are some of the core beliefs?</p> <p>Project Gutenberg has a long history, which predates the modern Internet and continues until today. The essays and documents in this section provide some of the background of Project Gutenberg, and also describe the basis for how Project Gutenberg operates.</p> <p><a href="50years.html">50 years of eBooks: 1971-2021</a>, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first for reading enjoyment and unlimited free redistribution (2021).</p> <p><a href="/about/background/history_and_philosophy.html">The History and Philosophy of Project Gutenberg by Michael Hart</a> (1992)</p> <p><a href="/about/background/mission_statement.html">Mission Statement</a> (2004)</p> <p><a href="/about/background/minimal_regulation.html">Principal of Minimal regulation</a> (2004)</p> <p><a href="/about/background/administrivia.html">Administrativia</a> (2004)</p> <p><a href="/about/background/etexts-killer-app.html">How eTexts Will Become the “Killer App” of the Computer Revolution</a> (Undated)</p> <p><a href="/about/background/free_ebook.html">No Cost, or Freedom?</a> (2012)</p> <h3 id="other-items-about-project-gutenberg">Other items about Project Gutenberg</h3> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60600">Forty-Five Years of Digitizing Ebooks: Project Gutenberg’s Practices</a>, by Dr. Gregory Newby, CEO of the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (2019).</li> <li>Project Gutenberg eBooks by Marie Lebert covering the history of Project Gutenberg: <ul> <li>in English (2008): <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27045">Project Gutenberg (1971-2008)</a>.</li> <li>in French (2008): <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27046">Le Projet Gutenberg (1971-2008)</a>.</li> <li>in Spanish (2009): <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31633">El Proyecto Gutenberg (1971-2009)</a>.</li> <li>album with pictures (PDF) for Project Gutenberg’s 40th anniversary: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36616">Project Gutenberg 4 July 1971 - 4 July 2011</a>.</li> </ul> </li> <li>Article: <a href="http://samvak.tripod.com/busiweb29.html">The Second Gutenberg Interview with Michael Hart</a> by Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. (May 2002).</li> <li>Article: <a href="http://samvak.tripod.com/busiweb39.html">Project Gutenberg’s Anabasis</a> by Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. (January 5, 2004).</li> <li>Interview: <a href="http://samvak.tripod.com/busiweb46.html">The Ubiquitous Project Gutenberg Interview</a> with Michael Hart, its Founder by Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. (November 11, 2005).</li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="footer"> <ul> <li> <a href="/policy/privacy_policy.html" title="Privacy Policy">Privacy policy</a> </li> <li> <a href="/about/" title="About Project Gutenberg">About Project Gutenberg</a> </li> <li> <a href="/policy/terms_of_use.html" title="Terms of Use">Terms of Use</a> </li> <li> <a href="/about/contact_information.html" title="Contact Information">Contact Information</a> </li> <li><a href="/help/" title="Get Help">Get Help</a></li> </ul> <a href="https://www.ibiblio.org/" title="Project Gutenberg is hosted by ibiblio"> <img src="/gutenberg/ibiblio-logo.png" alt="iBiblio"> </a> </div> </body> </html>

CINXE.COM

Background, History and Philosophy | Project Gutenberg