Help us realize OUR dream.

What is that dream? In short, to offer the best and most complete archive encompassing the artscene that is possible.

To do that takes work. It means dusting off that old computer tucked away in the basement to check and see what we're missing. BBS SysOps, avid scene collectors, group leaders and every day artpacks visitors have all played an important role in making this archive what it is today.

Some history about the 'scene and the internet...

Several years ago the ACiD Artpacks Archive established itself as the place to obtain artpacks over the internet. At certain times it was the only place, but most importantly it's still here. Solid as a rock.

But what about before there was a /pub/artpacks directory created at Walnut Creek CD-ROM's FTP.CDROM.COM?
What about before the web-enabled ACiD Artpacks Archive ARTPACKS.ACID.ORG?

The ACiD Artpacks Archive/artpacks.acid.org was not the first site on the internet to directly cater to the art scene... The very first art scene oriented site was "Deadbaby" FTP, hosted by Brian Ross Morin (aka SIDS). Everyone can agree that this was the first site created for the scene itself, ran by the very same person that was responsible for developing the ACiD View for DOS 3.xx series viewer. There was also the telnet-able version of Jesse Kates' (aka Halaster) The Regency BBS, one of the first art scene boards to be accessible via telnet. Did you know that a very sizeable chunk of our archive originates from The Regency as well as a small handful of other prominent boards from the days of BBSing? Another site which deserves mention is Ross Robin's (aka Fatal Sacrilege) Disembodied Voices. Once a huge dial-up BBS in New York, Disembodied Voices took the first crack at making a website simulate the look and feel of an actual BBS, complete with ANSI menus in HTML. In addition to their web-adaptation of the BBS, they hosted an FTP site as well and were one of the first internet sites that art groups claimed official "affiliations" with.

These are the only sites worth mentioning which predate the Artpacks Archive. Yes, I have glossed over the story (for right now) of /pub/demos/ansi on the Hornet Archive, as well as the two incoming ANSI directories which used to be hosted on wustl.edu and wit.com simply for the fact that none of these sites were created by members of our scene, nor were they really intended for our scene (to much extent). Also intentionally left out are the countless fly-by-net BBSes which were telnet accessible for a day or two, those which one had to join an IRC channel on frequent occasion to obtain the latest dynamically assigned IP address, never around long enough to build any sort of meaningful user base, provide a stable home for users, or make any real noteworthy contribution otherwise.

Now, back to reality...

Our mission and goal is to present the world with the most complete artpack collection the scene has to offer. To achieve this task, everyone must come together and take a look at what they have vs. our all files list. At one point we estimated that there were at least 100 artpacks and related emags missing between 1992-1995. Whatever the actual figure may be doesn't really matter. Each artpack tells a story, and each one has a connection with the others hosted here. Every missing file is an important piece of history.

Quite often, we receive requests for specific files that we don't have online. If you notice you have some of these golden oldies lying on your hard drive, please email us to arrange to upload them to our site!

This is a perpetually changing list. If you'd like to request something, email us.