Government Information Data Rescue
Resources for finding government data that may have been removed or altered.
Last Updated: Dec 4, 2025 2:35 PM
Where Can I Archive Existing Information?
Websites
-
Internet Archive Wayback MachineUsing the "Save Page Now" tool users can capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future.
Datasets and Reports
-
ICPSR - Suggest Data to ArchiveUsers can suggest government data in the social sciences for inclusion in ICPSR's archives.
Data Rescue Activist Tools
These data activist organizations focus on rescuing and preserving data:
- ArchiveBox has archived datasets from data.gov, CIBP, USCIS, NOAA, NASA, NSIDC
- The Archive Team at the Internet Archive has a project archiving datasets from the U.S. Government
- GitHub: Awesome Datahoarding provides lists of tools for web harvesting
- GovDiff shows side-by-side comparisons of government website changes
- MIT Libraries: Data Management Checklist provides a checklist for curating data rescue efforts
- r/Data Hoarder is a subreddit of data preservation activists
- Safeguarding Research Discourse Group is a preservation group hosted outside of the US
- Tracking Government Information is a preservation group of four academic librarians
- WebRecorder has archived 8TB+ of government sites
-
ArchiveBoxArchiveBox is an open source tool that lets organizations & individuals archive both public & private web content while retaining control over their data. It can be used to save copies of bookmarks, preserve evidence for legal cases, backup photos from FB/Insta/Flickr or media from YT/Soundcloud/etc., save research papers, and more…
-
Archive Team WarriorsThis website is intended to be an offloading point and information depot for a number of archiving projects, all related to saving websites or data that is in danger of being lost. Besides serving as a hub for team-based pulling down and mirroring of data, this site will provide advice on managing your own data and rescuing it from the brink of destruction.
-
GitHub: Awesome DataHoardingOpen-source list of tools related to archiving.
-
GovDiffTool built by Ben Borgers and Jerome Paulos to compare government websites before and after inauguration.
-
MIT Libraries: Data Management ChecklistThis checklist provides steps you can take to ensure the government data you use in your research remains accessible to you and others.
-
r/Data HoarderThis is a subreddit of data preservation activists that aims at bringing data hoarders together to share their passion with like minded people.
-
Safeguarding Research Discourse GroupOrganizing to safeguard as much publicly available research, including GLAM (Gallery, Library, Archive, and Museum)-collections, as possible. Led by Henrik Schoenemann and hosted in Germany.
-
Tracking Government InformationA project that tracks removed, modified, and impacted federal government information and resources. Managed by four academic librarians. Includes links to additional trackers.
-
WebRecorderThe Webrecorder team has been developing open source web archiving tools for over 10 years. We strive to make web archiving tools accessible to anyone who needs to collect and preserve content that is meaningful to them.