Our history
In 1994, the Internet was in its early days, and William G. Bowen—then president of the Mellon Foundation—conceived of JSTOR to solve a growing problem: university and college libraries were running out of space for expanding scholarly collections.
His idea was transformative: convert printed journals into digital form and store them in a shared online archive. This innovation helped reduce storage costs, free up physical space, and vastly improve access to research.
Decades later, JSTOR is a thriving nonprofit working with more than 14,000 libraries, museums, and publishers worldwide. Through our products and services, JSTOR has transformed access to scholarly materials—including journals, books, images and other primary sources—to reach more than 100 million users each year.
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What will the next 30 years bring?
Explore more about JSTOR’s evolution and impact.
The University of Wyoming moves to JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services to manage, preserve, and share digital collections
The University of Wyoming joins JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services as a Tier 2 participant, migrating key collections from DSpace to JSTOR for integrated management, Portico preservation, and expanded discovery.
“AI drafts, people decide”: How Goldey-Beacom College scales archival access and enriches student learning with JSTOR Seeklight
Goldey-Beacom College used JSTOR Seeklight to scale archival metadata creation with AI and human oversight—unlocking hidden collections while building student AI literacy.
The Disciples of Christ Historical Society will move to JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services and join charter community
The Disciples of Christ Historical Society will adopt JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services as a unified home for its digital collections and join the Tier 3 charter community.
The purpose of stewarding distinctive collections: discovery and impact
Preserving distinctive collections is essential—but preservation alone doesn’t guarantee impact. In today’s digital research environment, discovery determines whether primary sources are found, used, and meaningfully integrated into scholarship and teaching. This post explores why platform choice now plays a central role in turning stewardship into impact.
JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services training: Advanced features
Webinar time is based in EST. Training for Stewardship participants (Tiers 2-3): use Collection Builder, organize related content, and use lists. One of three sessions in a monthly Stewardship training series.
North Shore Community College joins JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services charter community
North Shore Community College has joined the JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services charter community as a Tier 3 participant, becoming the first community college to help shape JSTOR Seeklight and future stewardship practices.
The American Library in Paris adopts JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services to manage, preserve, and share its institutional archives
The American Library in Paris has joined JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services as a Tier 2 participant, using JSTOR’s integrated platform to manage, preserve, and share its institutional archives, beginning with historic photographs from its early history.
Northwestern University joins JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services charter community
Northwestern University has joined the Tier 3 charter program of JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services, becoming part of a cohort of institutions working together to advance responsible, sustainable approaches to digital collections stewardship.
Creighton University joins JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services charter community
Creighton University has joined the JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services charter community as a Tier 3 participant, gaining access to JSTOR Seeklight and contributing to the development of responsible, scalable tools for digital collections stewardship.