What lessons can we learn from the NPS’s President’s House?

With the start of 2011 comes the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War – the War Between the States, the War of the Rebellion, the War of Northern Aggression, the War for Southern Independence, the Freedom War. All of these names have appeared in history text books. The version of the war I studied in school is different than the version you studied. What you learned about the causes of the Civil War depends on the decade and the state in which you were educated. (more…)

Tweeting the Bill of Rights

I am always looking for creative ways that museums and libraries are using social media to engage their audiences. Today’s fine example comes to us from the National Archives, who challenged their blog readers and Twitter followers to tweet in 140 characters or less the Bill of Rights! You can read the winning entries here.

This contest is a brilliant social marketing strategy for several reasons: (more…)

LoC posts Civil War photos on Flickr

A post on the Library of Congress blog reports that the organization recently posted a collection of Civil War-era photos on the social media site Flickr as a way to share these photos with a much wider audience than will be able to see them in person as a part of their exhibit “The Last Full Measure.”

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Very few Americans can pass a test on the American Revolution – can you?

Scary numbers of people know very little about the events surrounding the American Revolution. For those of us in the history world, this probably does not come as a huge shock. But in light of the cuts being made to history and social studies programs across the nation in favor of subjects on the standardized tests, this information is starling and worth discussing. (more…)

Things that go BOO

Well, it’s that time of year, when ghosts and goblins roam the streets. Thanks to hit television shows like Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures, ghosts are enjoying extreme popularity these days. As Halloween nears, many historic sites and towns offer ghost tours. I took a ghost walk around Historic Annapolis last Saturday night, and my companion and I both felt it was a wonderful way to learn the history of that historic town. (more…)

Who wrote your child’s history text?

I am taking history courses right now to earn a second bachelor’s degree in history, and even in the 100 level classes, they are having us do history research online. We have had to find sites that are acceptable for collegiate research and sites that are not acceptable. (more…)

Tell your visitors a story

Hello history fans! I took a break from blogging over the summer, due to several vacations and the fact that I decided to go back to school and pick up a degree in history. It was been wonderfully exciting to read my text books and discuss history with my classmates – all online! I figured I spent all my free time reading history books anyway, so I may as well get credit for it! (more…)

What we can learn from history’s leaders

I really enjoyed Jonathan Gifford’s article on leadership qualities we can learn from history’s great personalities, which appeared in The Guardian. Jump there to read the whole article, or grab a copy of author Jonathan Gifford’s book, History Lessons: What Business and Managers Can Learn from the Movers and Shakers of History, here. (more…)