A free AI-powered search engine for Australia's public archives.
One search across 11 Australian archive sources, including Trove, PROV, Museums Victoria and NMA. Semantic search finds records that keyword search misses.
From question to discovery in one search.
Ask a question in plain English. Open History searches one index gathered ahead of time from 11 Australian archive sources: Trove, Museums Victoria, NMA, PROV, Geoscience Australia and more. You discover results ranked by relevance, each linking back to the original source with full attribution.
Plain English, not keywords
Search by meaning — historical language, inconsistent cataloguing, and spelling variations are no longer barriers
11 archives today, with more planned
One index, every archive. No more opening 11 tabs
Ranked results with attribution
Every result links to the original source
One question. Eleven archives. Over 44 million records.
Australian historical material is spread across many catalogues. I’m building Open History to make it easier for people to find relevant records without first knowing which institution holds them or how each catalogue works.
It began as a tool for my own research. My longer-term goal is a free community resource that helps people explore Australian history and follow discoveries back to the original collections.
Nathan · Little Bear Apps
11 sources. Hundreds of institutions. Over 44 million records.
Each source is a gateway to dozens, sometimes thousands, of contributing organisations and collections.
Plus hundreds more
Search by meaning as well as exact words. 'Photos of Melbourne in the 1950s' finds records described as 'aerial photograph, City of Melbourne, 1952' — even though the words don't overlap. Meaning-based search and keyword search run together, then a re-ranking pass puts the best matches first, so historical language, inconsistent cataloguing and spelling variations stop being barriers.
Open History has already gathered the catalogue records from Trove, PROV, Museums Victoria, NMA, VHD, ALA, ACMI, Geoscience Australia, GHAP, PM Transcripts and QAGOMA into one index, so a single query covers them all at once, from Trove's 1,500+ partners to about 324,000 ALA species profiles. No more opening 11 tabs or learning 11 different search interfaces.
Every result carries its source, licence, and attribution text. CC-BY compliance is built in: every result carries its own credit, so anyone reusing a result can display it properly.
Open History indexes metadata only — titles, dates, descriptions, coordinates, subjects, and thumbnail URLs where the source allows (hot-linked, never re-hosted). It never stores image binaries, full-text, or audio. Every result links back to the original source for the actual document, image, or record.
Indexes titles, dates, and descriptions. Where the source allows, thumbnail URLs are hot-linked back to the source institution; no images, audio, or full-text are ever re-hosted.
Every result carries its source, licence, and attribution text. CC-BY compliance is structural.
Free research tool. No subscriptions, no paid tiers, no for-sale offerings — ever. If running costs ever justify it, the only commercial-adjacent move that's permitted is registering as a not-for-profit purely to receive donations toward infrastructure. The user-facing service stays identical either way.
Records are gathered ahead of time, politely and on a schedule, so institutions' servers aren't hit for every search. Rate limits sit below each source's published ceiling.
Will honour per-record removal requests within 30 days, in line with source institutions' content policies. Indigenous content carries record-level advisories (already in place for QAGOMA's Indigenous Australian Art collection, extending to other sources), in line with AIATSIS guidance and individual community wishes.
Each source institution's API Terms of Use or open-data licence governs how we use their data. The commitments below apply across the board.
Apply formally where required. Trove (NLA) requires an API key via formal application. Future sources such as the Australian War Memorial and the WA Museum will be applied for the same way. Whatever rate limits, attribution, content scope and removal timeframes each institution requires, the project commits to them.
Talk to institutions directly. We've written to the National Library about the project, and they raised no concerns.
Index metadata only. No newspaper article text from Trove (per Trove API Terms §4.4(e)). No image binaries from AWM (per AWM §Copyright). No oral-history audio from anywhere. Thumbnails are hot-linked URLs, never re-hosted.
Honour takedowns within 30 days. From launch, per-record removal requests will be honoured within 30 days, in line with AWM §Removal of content, and as a courtesy across all sources.
Respect rate limits. Per-source rate limits set below each institution's published ceiling, a politeness delay between requests, daily and weekly budgets, and automatic back-off when a source says "slow down". An automated compliance check on every code change blocks anything that would store Trove article text.
Attribute every record. Source name, licence, and a link to the original record on every search result. Every result credits the providing institution.
Cultural-sensitivity protocols. Indigenous content carries record-level advisories where applicable (already in place for QAGOMA's Indigenous Australian Art collection, extending to other sources), in line with AIATSIS guidance and individual community wishes.
Non-commercial only — forever. Required by some source ToUs (notably AWM §Commercial Use); aligned with the project's own permanent commitment regardless. The only future commercial-adjacent move that's permitted is registering as a not-for-profit purely to receive donations toward infrastructure costs.
If you're an institutional partner with a question about how Open History uses your data, contact nathan@littlebearapps.com.
Open History is heading for a free public release as Open History, at openhistory.au, some time in the next 12 months or so. Leave your email and I'll let you know when it launches.
No spam, ever. Privacy Policy
"How do I find primary sources across multiple archives for my thesis?"
Researchers who need to search comprehensively across Australian archives for a specific topic, period, or region.
You need: Cross-archive discovery that finds records keyword search misses.
"What happened in my local area 100 years ago?"
History buffs who explore out of curiosity — browsing old newspaper articles, looking up heritage places, discovering photographs of their town.
You need: A single search that finds the interesting stuff hidden across multiple platforms.
"How do I find records of my ancestors across different archives?"
Family history researchers tracing lineage through immigration records, court documents, newspaper mentions, and government archives.
You need: Cross-referencing records across archives that would take hours to search individually.
"Where can I find primary sources for my Australian history assignment?"
Teachers and students looking for original documents, photographs, and artefacts to support learning and assignments.
You need: Easy access to verified, attributable primary sources without navigating 11 separate platforms.
Also by Little Bear Apps
