Image Essay: San Francisco Fire of 1906

On May 12, 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt visits the booming city of San Francisco. The decorated parade route traveled down Main Street and San Franciscans anxiously awaited Roosevelt’s arrival. In three years a fiery blaze would follow the President’s path.[1]

In the early morning of April 18, 1906 the city of San Francisco experienced an earthquake roughly 296 miles long. According to the US Geological Survey, the magnitude of the quake was roughly thirty times more powerful than the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 which was a 7.1 on the Richter scale.[2]

Though the earthquake only lasted a minute, thirty subsequent fires destroyed 500 city blocks, phone lines, and water systems. This image, taken from St. Francis Hospital, shows the catastrophic affects of the fire.[3]

After the fires died out the once thriving city was left in ruin. Like many of the municipal buildings, City Hall was completely destroyed. The US Geological Survey estimates that the city estimated damage costs equaled 400,000,000 in 1906 monetary values.[4]

Monetary losses were secondary in relation to the loss of human life and livelihoods. Over 700 people died and 225,000 individuals were left homeless and unemployed. Lines of refugees stretched throughout the city for food and water. Army troops stationed in San Francisco provided relief for San Franciscans who proved to be resilient and created a booming city once again.[5]




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[1] H.J. Miles, Library of Congress, “American Memory Collection” (May 12, 1903) http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?papr:10:./temp/~ammem_Lcop:.

[2] United States Geological Survey, "Earthquake Hazards Programs" http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1906/18april/howlong.php.

[3] Library of Congress, "American Treasures of the Library of Congress" (April 18, 1906) http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tri131.html.

[4]United State Geological Survey, “Earthquake Hazards Programs” http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1906/18april/index.php.

[5] National Park Service, “The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake” http://www.nps.gov/archive/prsf/history/1906eq/relief.htm.

Digital Research

The previous exercise in writing the history of Valentine’s Day cards was written only using sources available on Google. Though this is not the traditional methodology of a historian, it has been a useful one to see what the web has to offer and how to judge pages validity. Several problems arose during this exercise that included checking the sources, deciding which sites to use and dealing with contradicting information.

The beauty of the World Wide Web is its accessibility to an endless amount of free information. However, when looking on the web for sources it is difficult to know who the author is or what is there intention. Many sites are created by amateurs or hobbyists, not by professionals. The problem with these sites, including information giants like Wikipedia, “is that you have no idea whether you are reading an established person in the field or someone with an ax to grind.”[1] While searching for information I stumbled upon a site named Squidoo, which is an information site. The site had the same information about Valentine’s Day cards, but no accreditation and lots of advertisements. I chose not to use this site, but students surfing the web might use it as a viable source when in fact the material could be questionable.
Instead of using Wikipedia as my main source, I decided to use a variety of other sites that corroborated information. Sites including, American Greetings, American Heritage Magazine, the American Antiquarian Society and the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities were some of the more useful sites. The sites are fairly well known and maintained. Each site lists or acknowledges the author or cooperation that they are affiliated with which is one indicator “to help judge how credible and useful a site will be.”[2]

One of the most frustrating problems that arose was that much of the information that I found would contradict itself. For example, when trying to find out how many Valentine’s Day cards were sent each year I came up with four different statistics on Wikipedia and the U.S. Census Bureau. I finally decided to use the statistics from American Greeting Card Association, which had the most timely and specific information.

The question remains, “should we continue to turn our attention away from growth and towards quality.”[3] A thousand sites with information about Valentine’s Day cards popped up with a simple Google search. Despite the vast amount of information, web surfers must be prepared to take the time out to check the sources, and double, even triple check the information being presented.


[1] The Chronicle of Higher Education “Can Wikipedia Ever Make the Grade?” (http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i10/10a03101.htm) 2006.
[2] Robert Harris, Evaluating Internet Research Sources, Virtual Salt (http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm) June 2007.
[3] The Chronicle of Higher Education “Can Wikipedia Ever Make the Grade?” (http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i10/10a03101.htm) 2006.

The Mother of All Valentines

February 14th, a day full of cards, chocolate and flowers. Throughout my Elementary school years every Valentine’s Day class party had the notorious card ceremony where everyone in the class passed out the latest Barbie or Hot Wheels mini card that had spectacular well wishes on them. Looking back on these fine memories I became interested on who started the tradition of giving Valentine’s Day cards and decided to look up the history of this tradition.

According to the American Greeting Card Association, 190 million cards are exchanged on Valentine’s Day in the United States each year. [1] But how did this tradition start? The oldest written Valentine’s Day card is housed in the British Museum and was written by Charles the Duke of Orleans in 1415.[2] Prior to the mid 19th century Valentine’s were not mass produced in the United States. Instead, wealthier Americans imported their cards from London. These cards consisted of sentimental verses, flowers and lace.[3] Since the imported cards were very expensive many American made their own Valentines, thus a market for mass produced inexpensive cards existed.

It was not until the 1840s when America started mass producing Valentine’s Day cards. After receiving a card from London, a young woman from Worcester, Massachusetts named Esther Howland decided to begin making her own cards. Following the same fashion of the European cards, Howland used lace and flower imprints to design her cards. Howland’s father, a book and stationary store owner, helped with her ambitions to bring romantic cards to the American public. Her father imported “embossed and perforated lace paper” and she made sample Valentines.[4] After sending her brother out with samples, he returned with 5,000 dollars in orders and Howland’s career as the Mother of Valentines. [5]

In order to keep up with the demand, Howland developed a home grown assembly line. She hired girls and assigned each employee a specific task. Soon her cottage industry grew and she had to move to larger quarters, essentially becoming the first Valentine Card industry in America.[6] Though “competitors soon flattered her with imitation,” Howland’s innovative designs kept a cut above the competition.[7] Her most famous card was her inventive shadow box design. Howland placed a “colored wafer of paper under the white lace” to create a layered look.[8] Her beautiful cards remained favorites amongst the American public so much to the point that Howland’s business eventually grossed 100,000 dollars annually.[9]

In 1881 Howland sold her industry to George Whitney, a stationer in Worcester who had a Howland-style of Valentine machine cut cards.[10] Whitney’s company became “one of the largest valentine publishers in this country with offices in New York, Boston and Chicago.”[11] Whitney installed machinery to create the paper that Howland used but continued to imitate Howland’s designs. Whitney’s company made cards until 1942 and enjoyed the success that Howland herself had achieved.

The history of American Valentine’s Day cards is truly and American story of industrialization and innovation. Though Howland never married,[12] her cards provided the American public with a simple way to send love on Valentine’s Day. So now when your buying cards to send to a love one or friend just remember that this small tradition has an interesting past.



[1] American Greetings, “The Business of Valentine’s Day” (http://pressroom.americangreetings.com/archives/val07/valbiz07.html) 2006.
[2] West Sussex Grid for Learning, “St. Valentine’s Day” (http://wsgfl.westsussex.gov.uk/ccm/content/topics/02/st-valentines-day.en?page=2) 2008.
[3] Greeting Card Association, “Major Holidays” (http://www.greetingcard.org/thegreetingcard_holidays.html) 2008.
[4] Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, “Mass Moments” (http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=52) 2008
[5] Ibid.
[6] American Heritage Magazine, “The Amorous Art of Esther Howland” (http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1982/2/1982_2_25.shtml) 2006.
[7] American Antiquarian Society, “Making Valentines” (http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Exhibitions/Valentines/howland.htm) 2004.

[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, “Mass Moments” (http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=52) 2008.
[11] American Antiquarian Society, “Making Valentines” (http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Exhibitions/Valentines/howland.htm) 2004.
[12] American Heritage Magazine, “The Amorous Art of Esther Howland” (http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1982/2/1982_2_25.shtml) 2006.

The Lower East Side Tenement Musuem: A Review

As more and more historical institutions enter into the world wide web, historians, students, teachers and the public must become adept at regulating which sites prove to be valuable sources and which ones can be tossed to the side. As stewards of the past, it is our responsibility to hold historical websites accountable for their content, accuracy, comprehensiveness, usability, fairness, and incorporation of up to date media and scholarship. Though this may seem a little daunting, fear not. A number of prominent organizations including the Journal of American History, Public History Resource Center and George Mason University’s Center for History and New Media have developed guides to safely differentiate historical fact from fiction. The guidelines for many of these organizations follow the same general outline and teach users how to analyze websites and ask the appropriate questions about the validity of a website. These guidelines can be utilized for a variety of sites including the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

The Tenement Museum, located in Manhattan, provides an opportunity for historians, students, teachers and the general public explore the history of tenement life in New York City and immigration in American. The museum allows visitors to enter into the apartments of five immigrant families who lived in the Lower East Side throughout the twentieth century. Each family lived in the tenement at 97 Orchard Street at one time and represents the various immigrant groups that flooded America in the 1900s. The museum’s mission statement states that the institutions goal is to “promote tolerance and historical perspective through the presentation and interpretation of the variety of immigrant and migrant experiences on Manhattan's Lower East Side, a gateway to America.”[1] In order to reach this goal for both museum visitors and individuals who cannot travel to the actual site, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum developed a comprehensive website which places the internet viewer within the walls of the tenement.

When using a website, one hopes that the material is credible and accurate. In order to ensure accuracy, users must analyze the sites reputation and scholarly accreditations. Savvy users easily recognize the accountability of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Not only is the organization reputable, but is supported by the National Trust of Historic Preservation, National Park Services, International Coalitions of Historic Site Museums of Conscience, and The Museums of Lower Manhattan. The site is also accredited by the American Association of Museums and financed by Goldman Sacs. Association with these well known and respected agencies provides the user with some gauge about the work and scholarship that went into the material on the site. In addition to its associations with respectable groups, “you can sometimes tell by the tone, style, or competence of the writing whether or not the information is suspect.”[2] The Tenement’s encyclopedia and information about the families is written in a fairly objective tone and is factually consistent throughout the site.

However, for individuals interested on researching tenements or the immigrant experience, the site is helpful, but not as a traditional historical source. In addition to offering information and links to other archives, the site’s virtual tour and tenement encyclopedia offer historical information about the subject. However, researchers must use the site in collaboration with traditional sources. The virtual tour is the interpretation of one individual tour guide who, despite efforts to maintain some form of objectivity, subjectively chooses the stories that she or he tells. Her version of the tenement’s story has been filtered by her own interests and opinions about the past. Thus, visitors to the site should expose themselves to other interpretations about the tenements and immigration in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of this era.

More than an archival site, the museum’s site is essentially online exhibit of the tenement. The main audience for the site aims more to teachers, younger students and the general public more than traditional scholars. Using the modern technology, the Tenement Museum provides users with the chance to take a virtual tour of the tenement apartments. This unique feature allows users to go on a tour without ever physically visiting the museum. The virtual tour provides a comprehensive look at the museum. Users can enter every apartment in the tenement and listen to the narration by a guide. In addition to this feature, the site provides teachers with information on school programs and classroom activities and readings, prices and directions for visitors, community outreach through email newsletters, and community events and discussions about modern immigration issues.

The website’s design is somewhat mediocre. The home page has a plain white background. At the top of the screen the heading, which reads Lower East Side Tenement Museum, is in bold black font superimposed on a blue and green wallpaper pattern. This makes the heading somewhat difficult to read and bothersome to the viewers eyes. The seven main sub-columns are located above the heading in smaller black font on a gray color bar. These sub-columns are consistently located in this place throughout the site which makes it easy for the user to navigate the site.

The remainder of the page is situated within a boxed boarder which is divided into several sections that users might want to explore. The main picture in the box shows an image of one of the tenement rooms. Under this image are four sections that show users what is on the site. Each section has its own graphic and links to a different page that may be of interest to the viewer. These include, a virtual tour, an activity to design a flag, Webcomics and a link to an immigrant heritage trail. On the side of these sections is a list of links to tour information, group rates, a biography of the tenement and the tenement store. Below the divisions is a section for the user to sign up for the museum’s E-Newsletter and a list of the Corporate Sponsors and Affiliations which each have a graphic and a link. At the bottom of the page, the site has a toolbar with links to the site map, contact information and job opportunities. Finally, the location of the museum, email and phone number along with the copyright information are set on the same gray color bar that topped off the site at the end of the page. The site does a nice job of continuing the same layout throughout the site’s home page and the main sub pages. However the site uses different heading patterns on each page which creates a bloated use of designs that never looks appealing.

When viewers link to pages besides the main seven sub-columns the design of the pages changes yet again. The virtual tour looks drastically different from the rest of the site. Each apartment has a separate page and each page has a different background color. The layout of the pages is consistent with facts about the family, the view inside the apartment and a floor map of the apartment. Though the user has to play around with the navigation of the rooms, the cursor symbols and the zooming feature, once the user becomes accustomed to the new layout, the tour pages are fairly user friendly. The rooms’ images are clear, but the images of the family on these pages suffer from a poor scaling on the site and “appear to be the size of postage stamps when they are actually the size of postcards.”[3] Despite some of the design flaws, the site contains valuable information for the public.

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum also attempts to use the latest trends of media technology. Though the site is generally successful in utilizing these features, sometimes the technology fails to work. The virtual tour’s Podcasts narrate the tour of each apartment and allows users to click around and navigate through the apartment. This element of the site is great as long as the user has access to Real audio player and Quicktime 4 for the footage of the room. Without these programs the tour does not work. However, the site provides links to download the tools and though it might be a process, is worth the effort. In addition to this problem, several links on the site led to a HTTP Error. These errors were most frequently found in the events and education pages.

Like some of the links, some site’s information is dated. For example, the museum talks about the creation of a new apartment that details the life of an Irish family in the Civil War era being completed in early 2007 in early 2008. Visitors to the site can still only access information on the five original families and has not created a view of the new apartment or even announced that it is completed. The site also advertises events from this past January and fails to let viewers know when the site was last updated. In order to keep the site timely and the information accurate, the site needs to regularly maintain and update their information.

As a public history site the Lower East Side Tenement Museum rates well. According to the Public History Resource Center, public history sites must provide users with “Interpretations of materials, Primary source documents, Education and Promotion of a Community of Interest.” [4] The Tenement’s site fulfills many of these goals. The site successfully provides users with an interpretation of immigration and tenement living on both its virtual tour and information about the families who lived in the house. The site also reaches the education criteria. Not only does it dedicate several pages to education materials for teachers (though some of the links do not work), but the site’s tenement encyclopedia, images of the family and artifacts and links to other New York archives relevant to the topic teach individuals about this era in American history. Though the primary source materials are not as prevalent as the amount of text on the site, they do a decent job of allowing visitors to access these materials. The site’s greatest failure in the public history criteria is in the field of raising community interest. The site advertises community events on the site, but fails to generate a large return traffic. Once visitors have completed the virtual tour, the rest of the site seems static. Without engaging visitors to comeback to the site, a community of loyal visitors will never exist.

According to the Journal of American History “the goal of the review is to provide guidance to potential readers.”[5] In reviewing the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, it is easy to see how even reviews are subjective and just the opinion of a fellow historian. Though the site has some flaws, it showcases one institutions noble attempt at merging the museum world with the World Wide Web. The site is interactive and provides valuable information for anyone interested in its subject matter. Ultimately, I encourage individuals to visit the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and make a decision based on their own specific needs.


[1] Lower East Tenement Museum (http://www.tenement.org/) 2006.
[2] Robert Harris, Evaluating Internet Research Sources, Virtual Salt (http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm) June 2007.
[3] Paula Petrik, Top Ten Mistakes in Academic Web Design, Center for History and New Media (http://chnm.gmu.edu/resources/essays/d/3) May 2000
[4]Debra DeRuyver, Jennifer Evans, James Melzer, and Emma Wilmer, Rating System for Evaluating Public History Web Sites, Public History Resource Center (http://www.publichistory.org/reviews/rating_system.html) April 2000.
[5] Journal of American History, Web Review Guide (http://historymatters.gmu.edu/jahguidelines.html) July 2006.

Historical Websites

Historians write, research and interpret the past. How they perform these tasks however has changed drastically from the days burying oneself in a library, archive or some historic site miles from home to find the hidden gem for their research. Modern day historians have an extreme advantage over their predecessors, the internet. By linking up and typing away, within seconds historians have millions of sites at their hands to find artifacts, primary and secondary materials previously hidden behind closed doors. Yet, with this change comes newer challenges for the modern historians. What is the validity of the material? Who sponsors the site? Is the material objective, easy to navigate, accurate? How will academics and the public become equal stewards of the past? All of these issues and more emerged with the use of the web and must be addressed.

Historical websites come in every shape and size imaginable. According to historians Daniel Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig five historical genres exist: “archives (containing primary sources); exhibits, films, scholarship, and essays (that is, secondary sources); teaching (directed at students and teachers); discussion (focused on online dialogue); and organizational (providing information about a historical group).”[1] Though each site fits into a general genre, most historical sites contain elements of several genres and perform a variety of duties for their audiences. In addition to issues of genre, one of the major concerns for visitors to historical websites is the accuracy of the information on the site. Any one with an interest in history has the ability to create a site and can place any information they decide to put up as fact. This is problematic for students, teachers and the general public who are seeking answers to their historical inquiries. Despite these problems many historical websites provide valuable information, it is simply up to the user to beware.

An example of an archival site, predominantly used for research purposes, is the Valley of the Shadow website administered by the Virginia Center for Digital History at the University of Virginia. The site emerged as the efforts of two historians who decided to digitize the information they acquired throughout their research. This site presents itself as a virtual archive filled with primary sources from two neighboring towns on either side of the civil war. However, for the casual internet browser, this information at first eludes them. With a second click past the archive, browsers view an instructional page about how to use the site, why the site was made, what the site offers and teaching resources and lesson plans. Thus, the site which at first seems solely a scholarly endeavor provides educators with tools for their classrooms.

Similarly, Do History used the work of historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s break through work A Midwife’s Tale to create a site that teaches students, teachers and amateur historians or enthusiast how to work with primary source material. The site presents the diary of Martha Ballard, a midwife, and teaches people how to piece primary source materials to create a historical interpretation of the past. Do History hopes that “many people will be inspired by Martha Ballard's story to do original research on other ordinary people from the past.”[2] This site fits into a variety of genres but is primarily a teaching site. In addition to lesson plans and teaching tool kits, the site has interactive activities for visitors to engage with. Visitors can translate historical documents and decode the diary which allows them to directly interact with history and historical materials. Like most historical sites Do History also includes elements form other genres of historical websites. The site uses the historical film based on the book to generate a conversation on the historical film making process. Despite all of the positive elements to the site, Do History fails to promote return traffic. Other than teachers who may continue to use the site each year as a part of their lesson plans and an update on what Martha wrote this day in history, the site does not contain a forum for visitors to discuss their own projects, ideas, or utilization of the site. Without this ability, the site loses the ability to gain feedback which would prove extremely valuable in making improvements to the site.

Other historical sites prove to be more successful in opening the dialogue between the public and administrators of the sites. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History provides visitors to their site to comment about the museum, site, programs and to join and email listserv so that they are upon events and special programs at the museum. These aspects allow the museum to create a community and increases return traffic to the site. Though the site has elements of a commercial site, teaching is still a major since most historical sites include a teaching element, the Smithsonian follows suit. The site links the teacher resources directly to tours and education programs at the museum. Online activities, activity guides and classroom curriculum provide teachers and students with the necessary tools to have an more rewarding visit to the museum. Unlike the previous two sites, the National Museum of American History has a physical place for people to visit. If students are unable to attend school programs at the museum, the site provides students with access to many of the Smithsonian’s artifacts. History Wired, designed by Smart Money.com,[3] allows users to locate artifacts and information on the objects by clicking on a theme log of the museum’s holdings. The site, done by a professional firm “gives their exhibits a much more professional feel than most history websites.”[4] Since the museum is closed until 2008 for renovation this is an innovative way to maintain visitor interest and sustain scholarly research.

The most successful of the commercial genre of websites is the History Channel. The History Channel’s site, backed by cooperate money, can afford to have all the bells and whistles of top of the line web pages. Rather than focusing on the teaching aspect that many sites do, the History Channel uses its site as a forum for fans of the show to discuss and engage with a variety of topics. The most successful “commercial websites provide spaces for people with shared interests or experiences to engage in online debate and conversation. For example, the History Channel has active discussion boards on wars, religion, and sports that have attracted thousands of comments.”[5] These comments create a sense of shared authority over the history and allow visitors to post their opinions, thoughts and ideas about history. In a sense they construct their own meanings of the past. The site also encourages return traffic from visitors by have a link to “what Happened on Your Birthday” and regular polls for the visitors to participate in. Unlike the other genres of sites, the History Channel focuses more page space to advertisement and endorsement of their television programming due to its corporate affiliations.

Historical websites offer a variety of avenues for historians, scholars, teachers and the public to explore and utilize. Though visitors must be wary of the accuracy of the historical facts that they are reading, the internet provides many benefits to the field for history. The internet allows history to move beyond the walls of the academy and into the homes of the public where they can participate in interpretation, evaluation and simply pass the time away with the past.

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[1] Daniel Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig, Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving and Presenting the Past on the Web (http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/exploring/index.php) January 27, 2008
[2] Harvard University Do History (http://dohistory.org/about/site.html) January 27, 2008.
[3] Smithsonian, History Wired (http://historywired.si.edu/#) January 27, 2008.
[4] Cohen (http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/exploring/index.php) January 27, 2008.
[5] Ibid.

Entering the Blogosphere

Prior to this exercise in blog review I never fully entered the blogosphere as an avid reader. True, I consistently visit sports sites to read the standings or celebrity gossip sites to catch up on the lives of the rich and famous; however I failed to connect with engaging communities that live on the web. After reading a few articles on the evolution of blogs, I decided to spend some time reading up on two of my passions history and education at the History is Elementary blogspot.
History is Elementary advertises itself as a “site for history teachers and anyone who enjoys reading about history and history education,”[1] so I thought this would be a good place to start. Fortunately, the hosts claim fits the site and the postings are both enjoyable to read and raise interesting questions about teaching history in a classroom setting. Many people will find this blog useful. Although it shifts sometimes from and discussion about lesson plans for Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday celebration to the host’s daughter’s creation of a snowman, the post are usually both informative and helpful to both teachers and parents alike.
Each day the blogger, alias EHT (Elementary History Teacher) from Georgia, surveys links, teaching materials, talks about how to reach out to students and deal with administrators. The posts are entertaining and it is easy to understand how her posts would resonate with a wide audience. The layout of the site is very user friendly, even for the most amateur web browser. Each post contains several links to other sites explore the hot topic of the day. One of the most interesting posts discussed the difficulty in teaching balanced history. This post received the most comments by far and touched a nerve. Teachers complained on both sides of the line where teachers have either glossed over the uglier side of history such as the Holocaust or overly emphasize the negative aspects of history. This extremely sensitive issue provides readers and writers a forum to engage with the issues and formulate resolutions.
The site began in 2006 and receives comments from frequent visitors consistently. Parents, teachers, and even a teacher from Italy read regularly comment on the post. The site generates this return traffic due to several facts. The site contains numerous links to educator sites, pictures, history sites, and teacher resource sites. In addition to these useful tools, the blogger lists past post by title and subject which allows visitors to find a particular topic easily. Also at the end of each blog, the host provides readers with links to related posts that may answer questions or inspire them to spend some more time on the site. Finally, the site successfully creates a community by honestly treating a topic that many men, women, parents, teachers can connect to. EHT looks at the problems, both everyday and unique, that educators face and encourages others to collaborate on teaching lessons and use the web to enhance their teaching skills.
History is Elementary belongs to the larger network of blogs for educator resources. It links to sites including Cliopatria and History News Network. What is interesting is that the educator is no longer only a teacher. The site serves individuals who teach others whether it is a parent to a child or a tutor to an individual student the site discusses all aspects of education. EHT’s blog received several awards including Best Educational Blog from the Blogger’s Choice Awards and a nomination by Cliopatria for Best New Blog. Though I am but a novice in the blogging world, in my opinion this one is worth the time.

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[1] EHT, History is Elementary (http://historyiselementary.blogspot.com/), January 21, 2008.