E-print archive anniversary

Twenty years ago, August 1991, Paul Ginsparg, a theoretical physicist, started the first e-print archive at hep-th@xxx.lanl.gov and invited fellow string theorists to deposit the TeX source for their new preprints by e-mail. New preprints were announced and distributed by listserv making it possible for any physicist on the Internet to keep up with the preprint literature.

arXiv.org

"The First Free Research-Sharing Site, arXiv, Turns 20 With an Uncertain Future," Josh Fischman, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 8/10/2011

"Brief and Biased History of Preprint and Database Activities at the SLAC Library, 1962-1994 (with a few updates in Jan 1997, Jun 1999, Apr 2000, Jan 2002)," Louise Addis

"Citing and Reading Behaviours in High-Energy Physics: How a Community Stopped Worrying about Journals and Learned to Love Repositories," Anne Gentil-Beccot and Travis Brooks, 8/2009, SLAC-PUB-13693

"Information Resources in High-Energy Physics: Surveying the Present Landscape and Charting the Future Course," Anne Gentil-Beccot, Salvatore Mele, Annette Holtkamp, Heath B. O'Connell, and Travis Brooks, 4/7/2008, SLAC-PUB-13199