These great history websites help make the past and present relevant and accessible to students. There are research resources students can explore including firsthand accounts, images, videos, audio, and scholarly work. Many of these sites feature expertly curated museum and archival collections that help students step into history. Driven by their burning questions about the past, students can use these sites to analyze primary documents, artifacts, historical figures, and significant time periods. Teachers will also find a few picks on this list aimed specifically at them, featuring lesson plans and resources informed by the latest historical research.
Powerful stories and media centralize African-American history
Bottom Line: While there aren't ready-to-go curricular materials, this modern, well-curated, and well-contextualized digital collection is sure to inspire compelling lessons.
Scrappy, smart elementary history curriculum builds inquiry skills
Bottom Line: The free and adaptable nature of these intriguing history lessons makes them easy additions to just about any elementary history curriculum.
Dig into famed library's collection of research goodies
Bottom Line: The Library of Congress delivers the best of America's past and present, and with teacher support it could be a reliable research resource for students.
Access U.S. history with treasure trove of docs, genealogy, and other resources
Bottom Line: NARA's website wasn't designed for kids, but they can definitely use it to research and learn about history, genealogy, and the U.S. population and government.
Site famous for its Lincoln assassination resources has more to offer
Bottom Line: This site can support meaningful, primary source-driven examination of some of the most important events in U.S. history, but educators will need to dig a little.
Well-curated art and history site inspires curious learning
Bottom Line: A beautifully presented one-stop shop for compellingly curated and contextualized art, history, and culture resources, but it's lacking educator supports.
Historical texts, interactive activities can promote critical thinking
Bottom Line: This text-rich app encourages students to conduct their own analysis of history, but the formats and graphics may prevent them from making a thorough analysis.
Extensive resource collection supports teaching about the Holocaust
Bottom Line: As a valuable resource for anyone teaching or learning about the Holocaust, time to explore and plan is necessary in order to make the materials effective.
Bottom Line: A gold mine of cross-curricular literacy lessons that encourage sound, research-backed strategies for reading, analysis, and critical thinking.
Philosophy podcast makes heady concepts accessible
Bottom Line: These philosophy podcasts and videos offer entertaining introductions to key concepts and thinkers, but require some smart lesson planning for deeper learning.
History and art intersect on the Met's vast, reading-centric site
Bottom Line: This resource from the Metropolitan Museum of Art beautifully illustrates art's evolution and is great for research, but more interactivity would help balance out the text-heavy content.
Expansive world history courses powered by great open-source materials
Bottom Line: A stellar program for exploring foundational concepts in history, humanities, critical thinking, and science with tons of support for teachers.
Archival site is a treasure trove for New Deal researchers
Bottom Line: While it doesn't offer much specifically for teachers or students, it's a must-use site for primary source material if you have a unit on the New Deal or Great Depression.
Deep, complex database is challenging but a peerless research tool
Bottom Line: This is a highly academic site for better and for worse; it's filled with deep, research-backed resources and primary sources but is intimidating without clear guidance.
