everything in the archive, at a glance
recently added to the archive
Every NEW and UPDATED tag on this device will go away. They will come back only for things added later.
a quick guide for finding your way around
Tap "Site Map" at the top of the page. It lists every album and video as a simple outline — tap anything in it to jump straight there.
The archive keeps track of what you specifically have opened — not just what's been added recently. A NEW badge appears next to anything you haven't opened yet, and a small dot glows on the "What's New" button whenever there are unseen items. Tap it to see a list of everything you haven't looked at. Looking at the list does not mark anything as seen; each item's badge clears when you open that item.
Once you open an item — whether through the album shelf, the Site Map, or What's New — its badge clears for good on your device.
To start fresh, tap Clear NEW tags (in the line at the very bottom of the home page, and at the bottom of What's New). It asks you to confirm, then clears every NEW and UPDATED tag on this device. Tags come back only for things added later.
If photos are added to an album you have already opened, it shows an UPDATED badge (outlined, so it looks different from NEW) and appears in What's New with the number of new photos. Open the album and the badge clears.
One thing to know: this memory lives in your browser, not in the cloud. If you clear your browser's cache or browsing data, visit on a different device, use a different browser, or open a private/incognito window, everything will appear as NEW again since there's no record of what you've seen on that particular browser. That's normal — it just means a fresh start on that device.
The albums scroll sideways — swipe left (on a phone or tablet) or scroll with your mouse (on a computer) to see more. A small animated arrow next to the album count points the way.
Tap an album to open it, then tap any photo to see it full-size. From there, swipe left or right (on a phone or tablet) or use the arrows (on a computer) to move through the album. Any caption appears right below the photo.
To see a photo up close, pinch to zoom or double-tap on a touchscreen, or double-click / scroll on a computer — sharp enough to read old handwriting and newsprint. Tap the X to close.
Open the photo, then tap "Email me a caption →" below it. That starts an email to the family archive with the exact photo already noted — just type who's in it, where it was, or any correction, and it comes straight to the person who keeps the archive.
Tap the document to open it in the reader. Scroll to move through the pages, or use the page box at the top to type a page number and jump there. The thin bar along the right edge is a scrubber: drag it to move quickly through a long document. The + and − buttons zoom in and out, and on a touchscreen you can also pinch. The bar at the top and the scrubber stay on screen while you read.
Links inside a document work. Tap a line in a contents page, or a "see page 12" reference, and the reader jumps there. A ← Back to where I was button then appears at the bottom, and tapping it returns you to the exact spot you left. (Page numbers in the reader count from the first page of the file, so they can differ from the numbers printed in the book itself.)
Find a word. Tap the magnifying glass at the top of the reader (or press Ctrl + F on a computer, Command + F on a Mac), type a word or a few words, and every place it appears is marked in yellow. Use the up and down arrows (or Enter) to step from one match to the next. This works on documents that were typed; a document that is only a photograph of pages cannot be searched.
Copy words. On a document that was typed, you can press and hold on a word (or click and drag on a computer) to select text, then copy it.
The archive remembers your place. If you close a document and open it again on the same device, it opens where you stopped, with a small note at the bottom and a Back to the start button if you would rather begin at page 1.
Some albums are marked "More" instead of "Open album" — tap one of those and it expands into a short list of specific items (could be videos, photos, or documents). Tap the one you want from there.
Tap the expand icon in the corner of the player — that's the reliable way. Rotating your phone sideways sometimes does it automatically too, but not always, so the expand icon is the one to count on.
Look for a small YouTube logo in the corner of the player and tap it — this opens the video on YouTube's own site, where there's a comment box underneath. Comments are reviewed before they appear publicly, so don't worry if yours doesn't show up right away — it will, once it's been checked.
One thing to know: commenting requires being signed into a Google account (any Google account works, not just Gmail). If you don't have one or don't want to sign in, that's completely fine — you can still watch everything without it, just not leave comments.
Photos: yes. Open the photo full-size, then press and hold it (on a phone or tablet) or right-click it (on a computer) and choose Save Image. The archive's photos are ordinary image files, so they save just like any other picture.
Documents: some documents, such as The Cruise of the Cabby, have a Download button (a downward arrow) in the bar at the top of the reader. Tap it to save a copy. Documents without that button are for reading here.
Videos: videos play here in a popup but are hosted on YouTube, which doesn't give viewers a save button — so there's no direct download for those.
If a video opened right here in a dark popup window, you never actually left — just tap the X in the corner to close it.
If you ended up on YouTube's own page (for example, after tapping the YouTube logo to leave a comment), use your browser's back arrow — keep tapping it and it'll bring you back here.
If a second tab opened instead of going back, look for two tabs sitting next to each other at the top of your screen — tap the one that isn't the video, or just close the video's tab.
Use the "Contact the webmaster" link at the very bottom of the page. It starts an email to the person who keeps the archive. To correct a caption or identify someone in a particular photo, use the "Email me a caption" link below that photo instead, since it notes exactly which photo you mean.
On some phones, tapping a video may open the YouTube app instead of a browser tab. If that happens, switch back to your browser the normal way — Home button, or your recent-apps screen — and WILBUR will still be there, exactly where you left it.
Tap any photo to open it full-size or to suggest a caption.
