Old Time Radio - Listen to Historic Radio Broadcasts

One the best (and often overlooked) resources for exploring 20th century history is early radio broadcasts. Long before the internet and decades before television, it was radio that delivered news and entertainment to millions of households around the country. Old Time Radio is a website with an extensive collection of the best broadcasts from the "Golden Age of Radio." You'll find classic entertainers like Abbott and Costello, and Bob Hope as well as dozens of shows from comedy, to drama, to science fiction,and vintage commercials. The site also contains FDR's "fireside chats", World War II broadcasts, and the voices of people like Albert Einstein, Babe Ruth, Amelia Earhart, and even Adolf Hitler. Old Time Radio is a true "must see" for all the social studies teachers and history buffs out there.

Retronaut - See History

It would be great if there was a go to website for old magazines, photographs, posters, postcards, and other material from the past. I would love it if there was a website that shared memories and pictures by decade and by topic. This website does exist and it is called Retronaut! Retronaut is a website for people who love history. Not only that, it is a website for nostalgic people to relive fond childhood memories. Retronaut is one part history site and one part social media site. Much of the content is uploaded by the sites members and membership is free. At Retronaut, you can browse pictures from past decades and even past centuries. The site is searchable by decade, by topic and by search bar. Whether you love history or just like reminiscing about the past, Retronaut is a site you should check out. Be careful, you may end up spending hours of your day browsing all there is to see. Don't say you weren't warned.

Awesome Stories - Primary Sources and the Stories Behind Them

Awesome Stories is a history teacher's dream. It holds an extensive collection of documents, videos, images, audio files, biographies, radio broadcasts, clips from movies, primary documents,  slide shows and the stories behind them. The site is categorized by topic and by type of resource and is also searchable by topic. History teacher, head on over to Awesome Stories and sign up today. The site is free to join and must be explored to be appreciated.

American History Resource - The Denver Post Photo Blog

As a social studies teacher I am always looking for new resources to to bring into the classroom. We can no longer rely on notes and a text book as our primary learning tools. The internet has provided teachers with new resources and new opportunities to change the way history is taught and learned. Every month I come across new sources of photographs, documents, and videos that help to enhance the learning experience.  One of my favorite recent discoveries has been the The Denver Post photo blog, or Plog as it is called. The Plog is a terrific resource of photographs and information about a wide variety of historical topics which I have covered here, here, and here in my other blog. From the Statue of Liberty, to the inauguration,then the Great Depression, and the Berlin Wall, the Denver Post's Photo Blog is one resource that I highly recommend you explore.

7th grade and back again.

American history has been a passion of mine since I was 12 years old. I was in 7th grade and I fondly remember my social studies teacher, Mrs. Riter. She was most likely in her fifties but she seemed old to me. She was kind and seemed to enjoy that my friend Mark and I would stay after school to talk about the history lesson we learned that day. It was then that I also started reading my history text book for pleasure. I would read ahead and on weekends I would also spend hours in the library devouring history reference books. I could not get enough.

My passion for history has never diminished. I still enjoy reading history books and I am a avid viewer of the History Channel. I have watched the entire Ken Burns Civil War series in a single day and I can watch virtually any documentary as long as it is history related. Looking back, it is no surprise that I ended up being a history teacher. I discovered my love for history in 7th grade and strangely, that's the grade I now teach. My passion for the subject is still as strong as ever, but now I get to share my love of history with my students.

I hope that I can share my love of history through this blog. Please join me on my new journey through history.