It’s likely that most Americans of the so-called Baby Boomer generation at one time or another spent some quality time perusing the Whole Earth Catalog. Now “nearly” complete copies of early editions are online at wholeearth.info.

Founded 55 years ago by counterculture icon Stewart Brand the eclectic resource that appealed to everybody from anarchists to back-to-the-land libertarians has been made available online for the first time. Readers can now flip through all the old catalogs, magazines, and journals right in their web browser, or download entire issues to their computer free of charge. The Whole Earth Catalog was the proto-blog—a collection of reviews, how-to guides, and primers on anarchic libertarianism printed onto densely packed pages. It carried the tagline “Access to Tools” and offered know-how, product reviews, cultural analysis, and gobs of snark, long before you could get all that on the internet.

Published several times a year between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. The magazine featured essays and articles, as well as product reviews. The editorial focus was on self-sufficiency, ecology, alternative education, “do it yourself,” and holism, featuring the slogan “access to tools.” The Whole eart Catalog was the pre-internet place to get information on everything from growing your own organic food to building your own geodesic dome home.

It’s well worth a nostalgic visit for the older folks, but also an enlightening look at the practical side of North America’s counterculture movement.