Browse Website Reviews
A curated guide to the best online content, large and small, in world history through website reviews from the perspective of a world history teacher.
Circular medieval painting of a man raising his right arm

Res Obscura

Functioning primarily as the personal blog of historian Benjamin Breen, Res Obscura stays true to its by-line by being ‘a catalogue of obscure things’.

The Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project

The Chinese Railroad Workers in America Project is an excellent, multi-faceted model of how rigorous academic research can embrace the digital turn to interface with the public in a clear and accessible way.
Black and white cat hissing on a gabled rooftop. This is a detail from Japanese printmaker Kōno Bairei.

Japanese Illustrated Books from the Edo and Meiji Periods

Spanning over three hundred years of Japanese book history, the collection includes famous Edo period (1603-1868) artists such as Andō Hiroshige (1797-1858) and Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849).

Photo Library of the French School of Asian Studies

The EFEO has long been one of the leading centres of architectural, archaeological, epigraphic, ethnographic, and art historical research on Asia and this effort to digitise their extensive collection of photographs offers scholars and the public a new lens with which they can view a visually striking and rich region.
Example map from StoryMapJS

StoryMapJS: Maps that Tell Stories

A completed StoryMap will take you through a narrative that links text and media to locations on a map. Rather than simply clicking through points on a map, the tool is designed to create a narrative flow by clicking on an arrow to advance the story in a predetermined order.
Thumbnail of logo of the Woodow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Digital Archive: International History Declassified

An extensive repository that collects declassified archival records from all over the world, the Wilson Center's Digital Archive: International History Declassified is an essential resource for scholars, educators, and students interested in international history.
Image featuring digital avatar of Rani Pramesti split down in half with the left half of the image featuring geometric designs while the right half features the naga, a mythical Southeast Asian creature

The Chinese Whispers

[The Chinese Whispers] serves as an important and powerful—if somewhat unconventional—primary source, allowing instructors and students to grapple with a variety of topics including Indonesian history, studies of the Overseas Chinese as a diasporic community, and notions of identity and belonging in diverse, multicultural populations.

Iceland Saga Map

Ultimately, the purpose of this map is to encourage and aid new readings of the sagas.
Map of Latin and South America showing bubbles indicating the number of resources in the database for each country

Latin American & Caribbean Digital Primary Resources

As a whole, the database serves the important goal of improving the accessibility of online libraries and archives. It provides a jumping off point for research into a variety of topics within Latin American history, and as it expands, its value will only increase

Freedom Narratives

Altogether, this free online website is an important resource for students and teachers who desire to understand biographical accounts and experiences of people from West Africa who fought to regain their freedom.

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