The Wayback Machine has Web version

Researchers around the world rely on one main Web site to find older versions of other Web sites, back to 1996.

Care to see early versions of MSNBC.com or who was in charge at Sirti when its first Web site was launched in November 1996? The best choice is the nonprofit Internet Archive foundation Web site, affectionately titled the Wayback Machine.

The name derives from the time machine (anyone remember the guy who ran it?) in the classic TV cartoon, “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.”

The site – www.archive.org – claims it’s collected 55 billion Web pages, including all sorts of links to audio and video. It doesn’t have everything, and there are times the links don’t produce a full historical page.

But there’s nothing like it to track down the links and material that filled the Net in the first real decade of the digital age.

To surf through the Wayback Machine, type in a Web address of a site or page where you would like to start, and press enter. Then select from the archived dates available. No keyword searching is available yet.

For hoots, browse the archive’s curious collection of video, from vintage newsreels to modern comedy.