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.
Phelps mourning embroidery from American Centuries' collections. It shows two people visiting a grave flanked by weeping willows.

American Centuries

A section of the site called "In the Classroom" offers numerous lesson plans for elementary and middle-school teachers, some written by museum employees and some by schoolteachers themselves, using materials in the online exhibits.
Childhood headshot of Laura Jernegan

Laura Jernegan: Girl on a Whale Ship

Laura Jernegan: Girl on a Whale Ship is useful for those seeking primary source material on the myriad of subjects with which Laura Jernegan's young life intersected and to students wishing to learn more about the whaling industry and the adventures of a young girl and her family aboard a whaling ship.
Logo for Austrialian Periodical Publications 1840-1845 showing the title in front of newspaper pages

Australian Periodical Publications Project, 1840–1845

The manner in which newspapers in this period created transnational links, both in reporting news from elsewhere and in systematically including extracts from other papers, makes them an especially pertinent source for the study of world history.
1897 watercolor of Sydney's port looking across the roofs of several buildings towards the harbor and ships

Australian Studies Resources

The wide assortment of material makes it useful for teaching many distinct themes relevant to world history.
The portrait of Selim III 1789-1807, showing Selim dressed in red robes sitting against some pillows

Topkapi Museum

Such images of Islamic art from the Topkapi museum can not only bring to life periods of Ottoman history, but also the variety and brilliance of Islamic art, both of which are useful to the teaching of world history.
"The Radical's Arms" a political cartoon criticizing French Revolutionaries for the reign of terror by depicting two peasants with a guillotine before a burning globe

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

It is this type of versatility, coupled with the topical essays and the intuitive design of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity that makes this site a welcome resource for teachers of European history and world history (and their students).
Screenshot of the site's map feature showing the Indian Ocean in the Industrial and Imperial era with markers for different objects, goods, and places highlighted on the site

Indian Ocean History

It is easily the most comprehensive website for studying and teaching Indian Ocean history currently available.
Page from The Badianus Codex, an Aztec book of herbal medicine showing several plants.

History of Science in Latin America and the Caribbean

The fields of science and Latin America have considerably grown in recent decades, and HOSLAC addresses these disciplines by seamlessly merging both fields in a manner that seems natural and relevant to a wide range of users.
Detail of a page from Andreas Vealius' book Bruxellensis showing a map of major arteries

Vaulted Treasures: Historical Medical Books at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library

This website features roughly 200 digitized pages drawn from more than 50 medical books published between 1493 and 1819. The website is structured as a virtual exhibit, presenting a separate page for each of 45 authors, including a brief biography of each.
Image of the website header reading "The Story of Africa: African History from the Dawn of Time"

The Story of Africa

Each segment provides a selection of quotes from primary sources that illuminate specific issues. There are many gems to mine. They range from original lyrical quotations that capture the imagination...to arresting images of initiation rituals and political power.

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