History Website Evaluation

The History Channel: Similar to the related television channel, the history channel website offers a very popularized as well as commercialized site for the study of history. Overall I found the site very visually appealing, yet it seems as though every other option on the website is a promotion or advertisement. I would recommend this website for the most novice of historical researches as well as young students. However the site does offer some great activities and links, such as the “this day in history” which details famous events which happened on that day in addition the speech archives and special exhibits are very entertaining. Overall this sight offers exactly what the television channel does and nothing more.

Do History: This site is a great resource in understanding how evaluate and utilize primary sources. Relying on the 200 year old diary of Martha Ballard, a midwife who lived during the American colonial era, visitors to the site are actively engaged in putting together various pieces of documentation. The site leaves much to be desired as far as the layout of the website is concerned. Almost immediately the website design struck me as crammed together and somewhat disorienting. With that being said I think that the sights creators were very successful in achieving their aims of providing a website that is both very interactive and fact filled. I would most assuredly recommend this sight to high school students as a means showing that history is more than just the memorization of facts but that at its core it is interpretation.

The Valley of the Shadow: To begin with the website provides an enormous wealth of social history dealing with antebellum America, the Civil War years and Reconstruction from the perspectives of both a town in the north and south. Although the site is very large I didn’t find it all that hard to navigate, with each section being clearly labeled and a simple layout on all the pages. I loved the fact that the website had several different mediums from which to glean information from. The viewer has the option of exploring maps, newspapers, government statistics and personal diaries. Overall the site is an extremely helpful resource to anyone wishing to gain insight into the social history accompanying the Civil War; the primary documents which are on the site are extremely beneficial.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History: Although the website is an added feature of the actual museum, the site’s wealth of features and information make it a terrific resource unto itself. Unlike most of the history sites I’ve visited, the Smithsonian has no specific target audience. The visually stimulating site can be utilized and enjoyed by novice historians, children and researchers alike. The complex layout and terrific presentation provide for a great visit to the museum without leaving home.