History

The Big Eight Newsgroup Creation Process
Documents the ancient process to create, rename, remove, or change the moderation status of newsgroups in the Big Eight hierarchies. Currently, the management is done by the Big-8.org team. Written by Russ Allbery
http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/faqs/big-eight.html

Google Groups: 20 Year Usenet Timeline
Notice that Google has completed integrating 20 years of Usenet posts into its archive. Includes links to notable posts including the first ever post to Usenet and the original announcement of GNU/Linux.
http://www.google.com/googlegroups/archive_announce_20.html

Gopher.quux.org : Usenet A News
Hosts articles from 1981 and 1982, which means long before the Great Renaming, for historical purposes.
gopher://gopher.quux.org/1/Archives/usenet-a-news

The Great Renaming, 1985-1988
Lee S. Bumgarner's concise and lively history of the 1986 renaming of Usenet groups, and other events from this period.
http://www.uncommon-sense.net/interests/usenet/renaming-faq/

Great Renaming from Wikipedia
What the Great Renaming was, who did it, and what hierarchies were removed and created.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Renaming

Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet
Links to Michael and Ronda Hauben's on-line book. Presents the history and impact of various aspects of the Net, such as the Internet, ARPANET, and Usenet. Attempts to help readers understand the origins of the Net, so they might help preserve its value throughout future developments and changes.
http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/

SOUP: Simple Offline USENET Packet
Defines the SOUP Format. Primarily of historic interest.
http://combee.techwood.org/old/soup12.html

Usenet creator Jim Ellis dies
News item about the death, in 2001, of Jim Ellis, who helped create Usenet.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2001-06-29-ellis-usenet.htm

USENET Software: History and Sources
A Usenet post by Gene Spafford, archived 9 February 1998 by the Institute of Information and Computing Sciences. A useful historical summary, particularly in terms of the software used for usenet.
http://faqs.cs.uu.nl/na-dir/usenet/software/part1.html

I Remember Usenet
Brad Templeton recalls the early days of the Internet and the rise of Usenet. <small>(December 21, 2001)</small>
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2001/12/21/usenet.html

The Geeks Who Saved Usenet
Article on the restoration of the early Usenet articles to the archives at Google Groups. [Salon.Com] <small>(January 7, 2001)</small>
http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2002/01/07/saving_usenet/index.html

Interview with Brad Templeton
Brad Templeton was the founder, publisher and CEO of ClariNet the electronic news service on the Internet. <small>(February, 1996)</small>
http://www.acm.org/crossroads/xrds2-3/templeton.html