Tip: Press ctrl and F (or apple and F on a Mac) to
perform a keyword search of this page. To keyword search all Best of History
Web Sites pages use the search engine located on the home page. This page
was last updated June 13, 2007.
TIP: "How
to Find the Best History Resources on the Internet" from the Center
for Teaching History with Technology points out that while keyword searching
via a search engine is the most popular Internet search strategy it may
actually be more effective for you to search with a subject directory.
Understanding the difference between search engines and subject directories
can make you a better retriever of information. Consult this resource
to learn how to find history directories, history research and plagiarism
resources, current events information, and more. If you plan to stick
with Google then learn Five
Quick Tips to Better Searching with Google.
The
Internet History Sourcebooks
The Internet History Sourcebooks are wonderful collections of public domain
and copy-permitted historical texts for educational use by Paul Halsall.
The Sourcebooks include an Ancient History Sourcebook, a Medieval Sourcebook, and a Modern History Sourcebook, as well as assorted other Sourcebooks on topics such as Women's history, Islamic history, and East Asian history.
Library
of Congress
An outstanding and invaluable site for American history and general studies.
Contains primary and secondary documents, exhibits, map collections, prints
and photographs, sound recordings, and motion pictures. The LOC's American
Memory Historical Collections, a must-see, contain the bulk of digitalized
materials, but the Exhibitions Gallery is enticing and informative as
well.
National
Archives and Records Administration
The NARA offers federal archives, exhibits, classroom resources, census
records, Hot Topics, and more. The Online Exhibit
Hall has features on the New Deal, WWII, and photographs from 1864 to
1921.
Center
for History and New Media: History Matters
A production of the American Social History Project/Center of Media and
Learning, City of University New York, and the Center for History and
New Media, George Mason University, History Matters is a wonderful online
resource for history teachers and students. Among the many digital resources
are lesson plans, syllabi, links, and exhibits. The Center for History
and New Media's resources include a list of "best" web sites,
links to syllabi and lesson plans, essays on history and new media, a
link to their excellent History Matters web site for U.S. History, and
more. Resources are designed to benefit professional historians, high
school teachers, and students of history.
BBC: History
BBC's History section offers a multitude of sites, activities, games and
other resources. Major categories include Ancient History, Archaeology,
Church and State, Science and Discovery, Society and Conflict, War and
Culture, and Family History. There are also sections entitled Multimedia
Room, Historic Figures, Timelines, Programmes, Reading Room, Talk History,
For Kids, and History Trails. The BBC Multimedia zone offers games, animations,
virtual tours, and galleries. Many games deal with various aspects of
British history.
The
History News Network
The HistoryNewsNetwork was created in June 2001 and features articles
by historians on both the left and the right who provide historical perspective
on current events. HNN exists to provide historians and other experts
a national forum in which to educate Americans about important and timely
issues, and it is the only web site on the Internet wholly devoted to this task. HNN is a nonprofit publication run by George Mason University, is updated
daily, and averages roughly 1.5 million hits a month.
Digital
History
This impressive site from Steven Mintz at the University of Houston includes
an up-to-date U.S. history textbook; annotated primary sources on slavery, and United
States, Mexican American, and Native American history; and
succinct essays on the history of ethnicity and immigration, film, private
life, and science and technology. Visual histories of Lincoln's America
and America's Reconstruction contain text by Eric Foner and Olivia Mahoney.
The Doing History feature lets users reconstruct the past through the
voices of children, gravestones, advertising, and other primary sources.
Reference resources include classroom handouts, chronologies, encyclopedia
articles, glossaries, and an audio-visual archive including speeches,
book talks and e-lectures by historians, and historical maps, music, newspaper
articles, and images. The site's Ask the HyperHistorian feature allows
users to pose questions to professional historians.
CNN Education with Student News
CNN Education. provides teachers with instructional materials for integrating
current events across the curriculum. A student section keeps students
in grades 6-12 aware of the latest news of interest to them. Lesson plans,
background material, profiles, links to useful Internet sites, and forums
for interaction with other teachers are all included.
The Internet Public Library
The Internet Library is the first public library of and for the Internet community and features online collections and exhibits as well as more traditional library holdings.
PBS
Online
A great source for information on a myriad of historical events and personalities.
PBS's assorted and diverse web exhibits supplement their television series
and generally include a summary of each episode, interviews (often with
sound bites), a timeline, primary sources, a glossary, photos, maps, and
links to relevant sites. PBS productions include American Experience,
Frontline, and People's Century. Go to the PBS Teacher Source for lessons
and activities arranged by topic.
CNN.com
Archives
The CNN Archives feature special in-depth reports on key current American
(and World) events, issues, and personalities. Most special reports supply
historical overviews, articles, photographs, timelines or chronologies,
video clips, maps, interviews, sources, and more.
Our
Documents
Offers 100 milestone documents, compiled by the National Archives and
Records Administration, and drawn primarily from its nationwide holdings,
that chronicle United States history from 1776 to 1965. Features a teacher's
toolbox and competitions for students and teachers.
H-Net,
Humanities & Social Sciences Online
H-Net is an international interdisciplinary collection of scholars who
contribute their findings and activities to this research-oriented site.
Their free e-mail subscription provides you with the latest information
on pertinent collections, exhibits, and grant opportunities; it also allows you
to partake in scholarly discussions.
The History Journals Guide
The Guide is a web directory for history journals, trying to discover and promote the most effective roles and contributions of librarians to the Internet and vice versa
Project
Gutenberg
A major source of historical electronic texts that can be searched by
author or title.
The
Avalon Project (Yale): Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
A great research site from Yale University rich with primary source documents
relating to world history. Searchable database is organized into three
periods: pre-18th century, 19th century, and 20th century.
World
Civilizations: An Internet Classroom and Anthology
World Civilizations is an interactive reading environment that combines
materials of two World Cultures courses taught at Washington State University
using web-based materials since Fall of 1994. Although designed for university
freshman students, World Civilizations' texts, glossary, and learning
modules are intended to be usable for high school level students and advanced
undergraduates. In order to increase usability for advanced undergraduates,
bibliographies of works consulted are being assembled for textbook entries,
glossary entries, and learning modules.
Historical Research in Europe
University of Wisconsin Digital Content Group has developed this Web site to assist researchers seeking to use European libraries and archives. The database can be searched by keyword or subject headings.
World
Wide National Archives
Has links to national archives around the world as well as extensive genealogical
resources
Voice of the Shuttle:
History Page
Part of an extensive guide to humanities resources that provides numerous
links to feature sites, teaching resources, electronic journals, course
syllabi, and more. Aimed at university educators.
History Channel
A companion to the television channel, this commercial site contains a
myriad of features and highlights for educators and students alike. Key
offerings include: study guides and activities, ideas from teachers, special
exhibits, speech archives, discussions, and "This Day in History." Also,
try the UK site and student site.
The
Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline of Art History
This interactive timeline is a chronological, geographical, and thematic
exploration of the history of art from around the world, as illustrated
by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection. Each timeline page includes
representative art from the Museum's collection, a chart of time periods,
a map of the region, an overview, and a list of key events. The timelines—accompanied
by world, regional, and sub-regional maps—provide a linear outline of
art history and allow visitors to compare and contrast art from around
the globe at any time in history.
Art
History Resources on the Web
Professor Chris Witcombe of the Art department at Sweet Briar College
has perhaps the best organized gateway to art history sites on the Web.
His directory is chock-full of useful and regularly updated links and
is divided into twenty one categories including Prehistoric Art, Art in Early Europe,
Renaissance Art in Italy, and Prints & Photography.
Art
History Research Center
The Art History Research Center from Concordia University, Canada, is
a tool for art historical research. It provides access to newsgroups,
mailing lists, library catalogs, article indexes, online collections,
art history & arts web servers, and links. There is also a short essay
entitled "The Internet as a Research Medium for Art Historians."
The
British Museum
The British Museum was founded in 1753 to promote universal understanding
through the arts, natural history, and science in a public museum. Its
various online offerings are impressive. It features interactive multimedia resources, historical reconstructions
and 3D animations and atttracts millions of visitors each year. COMPASS
is an on-line database featuring around 5,000 objects from the British
Museum's collections. There are online tours on a variety of subjects,
including introductions to the current exhibitions. Childrens' COMPASS
offers a special childrens' search, activities and quizes for use in the
classroom, noticeboards for children's work, 'Ask the Expert' and articles
written especially for 7-11 year olds.The World Cultures website highlights the achievements of some remarkable
world civilizations and explores cross-cultural themes of human development.
EuroDocs:
History of the United Kingdom - Primary Documents
These links connect to Western European (mainly primary) historical documents
and shed light on key historical happenings. The sources on the United
Kingdom cover various chronological periods, such as 1689 to 1815 and
1816 to 1918.
British
Empire
A professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada has created
this internet gateway. You'll find courses on various aspects of the British
empire, including history and cultural studies. There are links to other
sites: other gateways, libraries, writings and images of empire, and more.
You can also find out about journals and discussion lists connected with
British empire or Commonwealth studies. Some broken links.
Center for Reformation
and Renaissance Studies
Hosted by the University of Toronto, the CRRC is a research centre with
a library devoted to the study of the period from approximately 1350 to
1700. Its web site contains links to sites useful for researchers working
in the Renaissance and the Reformation, as well as other periods. It offers FICINO, an
international electronic seminar and bulletin board for the circulation
and exchange of information about the Renaissance and Reformation. There
are also exhibitions from its Rare Book collections, such as Music in
Medieval and Early Modern Europe and Textual Conversations - interactions
between Renaissance authors, printers, readers, and texts. There are even
two fully-searchable databases containing information from approximately
170 prompt-books for productions of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Conversations With History
In this UC Berkeley site distinguished men and women from all over the world talk about their lives and their work. They reminisce about their participation in great events, and they share their perspectives on the past and reflect on what the future may hold. Guests include diplomats, statesmen, and soldiers; economists and political analysts; scientists and historians; writers and foreign correspondents; and activists and artists
WebRoots.org
Genealogy Foundation
WebRoots.org Genealogy and History Library offers free access to United
States genealogy and history-related books, diaries, journals, memoirs,
letters, manuscripts, and more.
History
Now
History Now is a new quarterly online journal for history teachers and students
that features articles by noted historians as well as lesson plans, links
to related websites, bibliographies, and many other resources. In each
issue, the editors bring together historians, master teachers, and archivists
to comment on a single historical theme.
The first issue discusses the contested election of 1800, television's
effect on the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debates, the history of voting rights,
and the electoral process from the perspective of Muslim exchange students.
Scout Report: Archives
The Scout Report Archives is a searchable and browseable database to over seven years' worth of the Scout Report and subject-specific Scout Reports. It currently contains 22,831 critical annotations of carefully selected Internet sites and mailing lists.
Perseus
Project (Tufts U.)
A worthwhile resource for Greek and Classical resources that offers a
search function. Site contains an extensive library of art objects.
The
Online Medieval and Classical Library
Part of the Berkeley Digital Library, OMACL is a collection of some of
the most important literary works of Classical and Medieval civilization.
You may search all of the texts in this collection or browse by Title,
Author, Genre and Language.
Labyrinth:
Medieval Resources
This Georgetown University site features free, organized access to electronic
resources in medieval studies. Among its offerings are bibliographies,
a searchable index, links to special topics, and full-text versions of
medieval works. The Labyrinth's menus and links provide connections to
databases, services, texts, and images on other servers.
Early Modern
Resources
In 2000 a Ph.D student began Early Modern Resources, a gateway site for
the early modern period (c.1500-1800). It contains a wide range of links, organized into Research, Sources, Regions, and Themes. Subject themes include Cultures, Law and Order, and New Worlds.
Also includes links to General Resources, E-tests, E-journals, and more.
JSTOR: The Scholarly Journals Archive
Excellent access to the most popular academic journals in history, but your institution must purchase access to the site.
L.S.U.
Libraries: History Databases
This Louisiana State University site offers primary historical sources,
electronic journals and images, electronic texts, and more.
Historical Text Archives
Has articles, books, documents, photographs, links and a Google search engine
BUBL
BUBL offers free access to over 12,000 selected Internet resources. Links
are extensive and all sites are reviewed.
United States Historical Census Data Browser
Provides data from census records and other government sources for 1790-1960. Users can view extensive population- and economic-oriented statistical information at state and county levels, arranged according to a variety of categories. Also includes an essay on the history of the census.
The NY Times Project
Under construction, but the New York Times has begun to digitize its archives; currently online is the NY Times Civil War edition. You can register to be e-mailed notices of updates to the website.
Reviews
in History
An electronic publication which reviews and reappraises significant work
in all fields of historical interest, covering the principal areas of
the subject as taught in institutions of higher education. Free subscription.
Internet
Archive: Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine provides free access to researchers, historians, scholars,
and the general public to more than 10 billion pages stored in the Internet
Archive's web archive. Collections include Web, Moving Images, Texts,
Audio, and Software.
Biography
of America
Companion to the Annenburg/CPB series, the Biography of America site presents
American history as a living narrative. For each program you'll find an
interactive feature related to the subject or the time period of the program.
In addition, you'll find a listing of key events of the period, a map
relevant to the period, the transcript of the video program, and a "Webography"
- a set of annotated web links.
TIME Newsfiles
Newsfiles are single-topic collections of content on issues, events and people that are most often searched for on TIME.com. They contain cover stories and images, photo essays, columns and essays published by TIME and TIME.com, and links to web resources. Newsfiles offer plenty of informative articles on topics such as The Middle East, World War II, Watergate, Osama bin Laden, Vietnam War, Civil Rights Movement, Abortion, AIDS, and Christianity. Some articles and features are restricted to Time subscribers or Time Archive pass holders.
Maps
- Oddens (Utrecht U.)
Oddens' bookmarks was started in 1995 by Roelof Oddens, the curator of
the Map Library of the Faculty of GeoSciences and is today perhaps the
most extensive online map collection in the world. (The number of links
in the database has grown from 6500 in 1999 to over 22000 by April 2004.)
You can find almost any map you are searching for via this enormous site.
The site is searchable by country, region, and category. Key sections
include Maps and Atlases, Map Collections, Government Cartography, and
Touristic Sites.
Map
History / History of Cartography
Map History, managed by the former Map Librarian of the British Library,
is hosted by the Institute of Historical Research, University of London,
and forms part of the WWW-Virtual Library. Spread over about 100 pages,
it provides a well organized global overview of the history of cartography
as well as over 1500 links. The site provides reference information, web
articles, and lists activities, opportunities, and resources for surfers
and scholars. There are also leads to the collecting of early maps. Furthermore,
there is a section aimed specifically at parents and teachers.
The Research Guide
The Research Guide is a free, no frills education site designed for students,
teachers, and the general public.
Spartacus:
History
Run by a small educational publishing company, this website provides free
online materials for major history curriculum subjects. Visitors can sign
up for a free monthly e-mail newsletter covering web reviews and using
technology in the history classroom.
AOL@School
Search an extensive collection of external links by subject and grade level.
Fact Monster
This is an Online Almanac, Atlas, Dictionary, and Encyclopedia for kids. Also includes Homework Center, Games, and Quizzes.
Population
Statistics
Population Statistics provides a historical, demographical and statistical
overview of the population of all the countries in the world, their administrative
division,s and their important cities
Oral Histories
This website, run by the Oral History Society, provides some good practical
advice on how to start an oral history project.
Noodle Tools
NoodleTools is a free suite of useful interactive tools designed to aid in online research. NoodleTools provides strategies and resources to make online research more effective
A Visit to Copyright Bay
A fun tutorial that lets you navigate "Fair Use Harbor", visit "Murky Waters", and crash on "Infringement Reef". Includes information about AV Materials, Multimedia, and more.
Internet Paper Mills
A librarian has collected links to 250 digital paper mills and also plagiarism detection services.
EasyBib.com
EasyBib provides a free service to teachers and students who want to create proper bibliographic citations.
Jo Cool or Jo Fool: An Online Game about Savvy Surfing
Includes a checklist for helping you decide if "Jo" is making a good surfing choice. Has a 20 question quiz at the end, and a 50 page pdf to help teachers use the site.
