Memento (HTTP)

Memento is a technical framework (RFC 7089) that extends HTTP so clients can request a resource as it existed at a past datetime, bridging live sites and web archives. It defines datetime negotiation and TimeMaps that list available captures across archives.

Importance

Memento interoperates multiple archives (not only one vendor), supporting research tools that find the best surviving copy of a URL after Link rot.

See also

• Wayback Machine
• Web archiving
• Persistent identifier

Sources

• RFC 7089 and Memento project documentation.
• Digital library research papers on archive interoperability.