Video Game History Foundation launches digital library of rare materials

After eight years of cataloging and organizing, the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) has launched a digital archive filled with research materials on the history of video games. Free early access is now open to anyone interested in exploring gaming's past. While not all content is available yet, many of the most significant materials are already accessible.

Since 2017, the non-profit organization VGHF has compiled various materials, including the following highlights: Development documents with previously unpublished information about game development, as well as artwork, press kits and promotional materials for legendary video games, behind-the-scenes content, rare video game publications and catalogues, magazines, memorabilia, ephemera and more.

Of particular interest are the more than 1,500 out-of-print video game magazines that are searchable in full text - including gaming industry journals that are rarely available to the public. According to the VGHF, a particular highlight is a collection of documents from retired game producer Mark Flitman, who worked for companies such as Konami, Acclaim, Midway and Mindscape in the 1990s and 2000s:

Mark allowed us to digitize and share the mountains of paperwork and digital file backups he’s kept in his basement for over two decades. Even if you don’t know the games he worked on—and you probably know a few!—his papers are an incredible record of the business of video game production and marketing.

- Phil Salvador from VGHF

There's also the following to discover at the launch of the VGHF library:

• The first 100 CDs from GamePro magazine's art and press archives
• Guidebooks and ephemera from video game events
• The first issue of Game Informer magazine, delivering 33 years of news
• An extensive international collection of FromSoftware promotional materials compiled by citizen archivist Kris Urquhart
• More than 100 hours of raw footage from Cyan, the developers of Myst and Riven
• Early 1980s Activision newsletters
• An original recording session of "Macho Man" Randy Savage speaking a series of iconic lines for WWF Rage in the Cage from 1993

The access is, as mentioned above, completely free. Once you start digging into the archive, you'll find that it's a deep rabbit hole of fascinating material. And since this is an early access, we can look forward to many more treasures to be added in the future.