Approaching History on the Web

February 7, 2007

Approaching History on the Web

In the 21st century, the Internet has become a great tool of research for students, educators and all persons interested in learning about the topics that fascinate them the most. For those interested in learning about celebrities and the entertainment world, there are several web pages dedicated to a variety of artists and their works. The same goes for those interested in sports; were in this area, people can find in the Internet information about different teams, as well as pages focusing on individual players. In addition, one can find in the World Wide Web, pages that discuss several topics relating to the various disciplines, such as literature, mathematics, philosophy and history. People surf these websites to learn more about these topics, and to perform research for a school assignment, or for their own personal work. For those interested in learning about the past, the Internet provides several sites related to history. Nevertheless, people should not always rely on all of the history pages that are out there. However, that is not to say, that reliable pages on the topic of history do not exist within the World Wide Web.
Several valuable history sites exist throughout the Internet; such as The History Channel, Do History, The Smithsonian’s site for The Museum of American History and The Valley of The Shadow, which all provide different and reliable approaches to the past. Beginning with The History Channel site, along with the other aforementioned resources of history located throughout the World Wide Web, are the sites that shall be discussed and reviewed. The History Channel site is probably one of the most visited pages due to the amount of viewers the channel has had throughout all these years. It is also one of the biggest sites for history out there. It provides videos, as well as timelines and podcasts that detail a variety of events that have taken place in the past. On the top of the page one can find a link to the main topics discussed throughout the website. Once you point the mouse over this link, a list with nine topics scrolls down, which are available to view once you click on the link. Within this list, the visitor can choose to look at the topics of Science & Technology, Exploration, Military and War, Mysteries of History, U.S History, Culture, World History, Political & Historical Figures and Holidays.
In addition, for those looking to find facts on other topics, which are not located on the side bar or at the top, there is the option to use the search box to find the information that one might be looking for. Once the search box results appear, the visitor has the option to look at the history of that topic in the encyclopedia section of The History Channel Website. The visitor might also choose to look at other links on the topic that demonstrate video files, audio recordings as well as a link to the store with a list of items related to that event in the past. Additionally, The History Channel website also offers interesting facts about the shows that they produce and the schedule demonstrating when each of the documentaries is suppose to air on the television.
Finally, the link This Day In History demonstrates fun facts about history, as well as its relation to the present day. The link offers information on what happened in history on the date the visitor is looking at the site; for today, Feb 7, 2007, one learns that in this same day, in 1964, the Beatles arrived in New York, were the visitor is able to look at the video documenting that event. This webpage offers great historical resources, such as Speeches and Discussions, as well as Timelines and Maps.
The History Channel is a good site for those interested in the main topics of the channel such as popular culture and military history. This is more of a popular site that attracts the eye with interactive videos as well as quizzes and audio documents. For those looking to learn more about one particular topic, they may have to use search engine, since not all topics are listed on the homepage. It seems like the webpage is intended to back up what the television show is demonstrating rather than giving a different perspective and focusing on topics that might not be included in the present season of the channel. Nevertheless, this is a good site for history, since it provides information on world history rather than one particular nation’s history.
For those interested in using the Internet to learn about American history, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History website might prove to be very useful. Since this website is representative of the national museum, the information offered throughout the site deals with the collections held at the museum. Through the collections, one can learn about the history of Advertising in America and view objects related to this topic. The same goes for the topics of Clothing, Coins, Popular Entertainment, Science & Mathematics and Textiles within American history. One also can view online exhibitions such as the Treasures of American History, as well as learning about a traveling exhibit that may be visiting one’s hometown. This great website since it demonstrates collections from American history as well as providing information on the history of those collections. The site also offers a search box, were one might choose to type in a particular interest in American History and view objects and documents relating to that topic. Although the website allows the visitor to view objects from the American past, it does not really provide one the option to perform historical research on those documents. That is why there are other sites, such as Do History that allow for surfers of the web interested in history to perform research or learn how historical research is done.
Do History allows visitors interested in learning about the past, how to trace the histories of ordinary people. Although the site only offers information on the process that was used to trace the history of Midwife Martha Ballard, one does learn how to perform this kind of research in the future on a subject of their choice. The site offers tips on how to do research for history, by clicking on the link Doing History, which is located in the homepage. In this section of the website, the visitor is able to piece together the official story detailing the questionable rape of Martha Ballard as well as her own story demonstrating that she was raped. Looking back at the homepage, one can also find a link to an Archive of Primary Documents. Here the visitor is able to perform his or her own historical research on that topic. Along the same lines, on the homepage one finds the link On Your Own that allows visitors to perform their own kind of research, which provides a History Toolkit. This is a great site for those who are in the process of doing their first historical research paper. It is also a good site for the more experienced researches of history, since it serves as a reminder on how to do the work efficiently.
Finally, the Internet offers another history site that could use some work, but is still a good resource for learning and researching the past. The Valley of The Shadow is a site that offers information about two communities during the American Civil War. Established by the University of Virginia, this website serves as a digital Archive, holding documents from this period in American history. Once you enter the Valley Archive, the website offers links on The Eve of The War, The War Years, and The Aftermath. Within each of these three links, one can find links to Letters & Diaries, Newspapers, Census & Veteran Records, Images, Maps and other resources. Although this serves as a great site for research on the Civil War, since it provides a plethora of documents that have been digitized, it fails to demonstrate what the documents looked like originally. A simple image of the letters could be scanned so that the visitor may have a better sense of that period in time. Other than this simple fact, the site is very useful for learning and researching the history of the Civil War.
These four websites approach history in a different manner. They are very useful and are reliable since an academic institution or a museum established them. The History Channel is reliable since several of their programs are well researched and since the commentaries are made by renowned historians. The History Channel uses a commercial approach to history. The American History Museum, also provides a commercial approach, as well as a personal approach since it allows the American public to view their history through objects used by our ancestors. The public has a better connection and more personal connection to the past since this website provides documents that help us interpret the past rather than learn it from a television producer’s perspective. Finally, the last two websites, Do History and Valley of the Shadow use a researchers approach by allowing visitors to view primary documents and trace the past through their research. Overall, these websites are great resources for history; they allow visitors to learn about the past and to connect to it through research and images. I hope that in the future more websites like these ones are available, so that surfers of the past do not make the mistake of viewing unreliable historical websites.

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