Roger Finke, then professor of sociology at Purdue University, founded the American Religion Data Archive in 1996 on a grant from Lilly Endowment. Data file collection and processing began in 1997. The online archive launched in the fall of 1998 under the domain name www.thearda.com, and originally contained thirty-three surveys regarding American religion. Within ten years, the archive had expanded to include more than 400 data files. , more than 900 data files were available for download on the ARDA website.