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Government Information & Data Rescue

About this Guide

This guide provides information about locating U.S. federal government data that has been removed or redacted following Presidential Orders that went into effect on January 31, 2025.

For locating government data that has not been removed or redacted, visit Data.gov.

Visit the Government Information research guide for general government information.

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Finding Rescued Government Data

  1. Confirm that the data has been removed
  2. Look for it using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine
    • The Internet Archive Wayback Machine archives websites across the internet over time. By entering a URL in the in the Wayback Machine, you can see archived versions of that site from different dates, allowing you to recover content that might have been removed or altered.
    • GovWayback is a tool that helps locate federal websites in the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. By adding wayback.org to the URL of a .gov website, you will be directed to the webpage's record within the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Note that Gov Wayback works for many .gov sites, but not all. 
  3. Check the Data Rescue Project (DRP) Portal
    • If a dataset cannot be located using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, check the Data Rescue Project Portal. The DRP serves as a clearinghouse for preserving at-risk public information and currently archives over 1,100 datasets. 
  4. Explore Other Archives
    • If you're still not able to locate your dataset, there are additional archives that may have captured it. This guide contains some of these resources on the Archived Data page. 

Edited or Partially Redacted Government Websites

If you suspect a government website has been edited or partially removed:

  • Compare archived versions of the same page using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Look for differences between older and more recent snapshots.
  • Check the End of Term (EOT) Archive, a collaborative project that systematically saves U.S. government websites during administrative transfers. The Webrecorder US Government Web Archive is a section of the EOT Archive where the websites have been turned into standalone mirror sites that replicate both the content and the organization of the original website.