History
British Museum
A very large site that is well maintained. The quickest way to get around it to go to the site map and navigate from there. It has a well etablished schools division.
Castles of Wales
An exploration of some of the castles of Wales authored by Jeffrey L Thomas. This educational site provides details of castles and a wealth of background information to support pupil research.
Celtica
Celtica is a unique attraction telling the story of Celtic myths and legends. Here visitors can encounter an exciting, emotive and dynamic presentation aimed at evoking a sense of the Celtic spirit - the very life-blood of Welsh Culture and heritage. Visit Celtica, re-live our Celtic inheritance and feel the kindred spirit of our artistry, traditions and culture. It is not a museum, it is a vibrant, sensual and intellectual experience that expresses the spirit which was and still is 'Celtic'. Awaken your interest in the Celts, from a cauldron of activity and be led on a voyage of discovery by Nia and her brother Gwydion whose prophetic visionary dream culminates in a kaleidoscope of Celtic culture - the vortex.
English Heritage
English Heritage is the organisation that holds the National Monument record for England. It has a long tradition of providing good support for history teachers, including free support rial, activity sheets, and project ideas. The amount available on-line is constantly increasing.
EuroDocs
The site, which is managed from the USA contains primary historical documents from Western Europe which are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile or translated. The are selected to shed light on key historical happenings within each country.
Gathering the Jewels
The site has been created with Lottery funding to present some of the major items held by the Museums, Libraries and Universities in Wales. It is still under construction but is already searchable.
History Channel
A major resource site managed by the sponsors of the TV channel. It is searchable by keyword or timeline. It includes an engaging feature – ‘what happened in history on this day’ with a selection of items on any given day. It can also be searched by any day of the week, which adds a little edge to history – in this search there are sub sets such as World War II history/Today’s headlines. An interesting resource site that connects to other relevant sites in the same ownership such as History International.
History Matters
This site is designed to assist teachers of US history. It serves as a gateway to resources and useful material for teaching American History. It is searchable by topic and item. It contains primary documents in text, image and audio, guides to dealing with the evidence, teaching assignments and reference links. The guides are particularly helpful since they contain generic advice to teachers of history and are not culture bound. These are also useful as reference points for parallel activity involving other areas of history. The primary source material is however largely limited to US History. Nonetheless it is a useful source of advice for history teachers everywhere and perhaps a model for the UK to follow.
History Net
An American site, which nonetheless includes substantial amounts of information about the rest of the world. The theme is ‘living history’. It consists largely of articles on topics, both contemporary and post event – it even covers the attempted French landing at Fishguard.
History On-Line
The site is managed by the University of London and promotes high quality resources for the teaching and learning of history in UK. It draws on resources on both sides of the Atlantic. It is primarily meant for HE but will be useful for A level also.
History Place
Site dedicated to American History from the Colonial period until the present day. It carries many on-line resources. It is a lively site and will provide useful materials within its sphere. It contains a number of personal histories such as a girl’s story of life in the Blitz in London.
Internet History Sourcebook
This site is maintained by Fordham University in the USA. It is very large and easily searchable, being sub-divided into different periods. It seems to be aimed at the university student, but would have currency for the A level student or the lifelong learner. It contains the interesting prefatory statement’ – ‘I cannot, or rather, will not do your homework.’
National Museums & Galleries of Wales
The site covers all the museums and galleries of Wales. It is bi-lingual. It has an education facility. It carries a certain amount of material on-line.
PowysPast
An historical journey through Powys prepared by the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trusts. This guide allows you to make a journey through time glimpsing the burial chambers of the first farmer, the hilltop settlements of the pagan Celts, the forts of the conquering Romans, the medieval castles of the Norman and Welsh lords and many other interesting and thought provoking sites.
Royal Commission for Ancient & Historical Monuments Scotland
This is a parallel site for Scotland. The Commission fulfils the same role. The two Commissions are collaborating on certain initiatives that have value for schools in terms of improved access to materials.
Royal Commission for Ancient & Historical Monuments Wales
Holds the National Monument Record for Wales and a large number of private collections. This site will soon be searchable [in conjunction with RCAHMS – see below] by OS map under a project called SWISH and the Commission will digitise 80% of its records within 2 years, including a great resource of local history material. The site is bi-lingual.
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution consist of about 20 museums in various locations in the USA. It is considered a world leader in its field. While it is American in cultural terms it offers teachers a great amount of material and information.
Today-in-History
A ‘what happened in history on this day’ site. Very informative and even entertaining. It lists births/ deaths/ reported ‘missing-in-action/ historical events/ holidays worldwide/ religious observances/ religious history events. It is useful to add to lessons – where appropriate.
Victoria & Albert Museum
The V & A is the largest collection of applied and decorative arts in the world. They are developing a digital resource for teachers with programmes of work [containing supporting information and worksheets] associated with the National Curriculum [English version].
Wales – Building a Nation
In twenty chapters written for the web, follow the course of Welsh history from the Romans to Devolution. Written by the eminent historian, Dr John Davies.
World History: HyperHistory on Line
A part of the Discovery Channel operation. It carries a colour coded operation, but most interestingly offers searchable time lines related to the main civilisations, these in turn offer textual information about the specific item that assists searching and links to other related sites. This is an interesting site that is informative and easily navigable, particularly from the ‘timelines’.
World Wide Web Virtual Library
The site is massive and very complex. It offers links to a very large number of related sites, mostly at Universities. Searching seems to be lengthy and it is a site where time spent might be an issue. It might repay detailed searching, but seems to have a Higher Education/research bias.