Social History Websites

 

The FamilyTree blog recently used this very image to head their article titled 31 Free Social History Websites. Today's post is a Part 2 from last week's post.

Some of those 31 sites mentioned in that article include:

* American History (www.USHistory.org)

* Digital Public Library of America (www.DP.LA)

*Library of Congress (www.loc.gov)

* American Rails (www.American-Rails.com)

*Erie Canal (www.eriecanalway.org)

*Food Timeline (www.foodtimeline.org)

*Old & Interesting (www.oldandinteresting.org)

*American Disasters (www.evergladesuniversity.edu)

*Documenting the American South (www.docsouth.unc.edu)

Whatever you want to learn about your ancestors' life and times, type that question into YouTube:  Immigration, Civil War, Recipes, Dress Styles, Oklahoma Land Rush, tuberculosis, U.S. Navy..... hopefully you get the idea. 

Ask these questions:

*What was a typical dinner in Maine in 1880?

*What was typical Sunday dress in 1910?

*Did my ancestor attend a World's Fair?

*Did my ancestor serve in the military?

* Did my ancestor come by steamship or sail in 1870?

*Why did my people settle in ______________? 

Social history is learning the answers to those questions.  

Is Social History Real Research?

 

 

 

Google AI says: Social history studies the everyday lives, experiences, and cultures of ordinary people, focusing on social structures, class, gender, and community rather than just elites or politics, often called "history from below". It explores how societies function through the perspectives of different groups, examining work, family, belief, and culture, using diverse sources like diaries, newspapers, and material artifacts to bring the past to life and understand societal change from the ground up. 

Social History is learning what our ancestors did and did not do. What they wore and why. What they ate and why. Why they feared bathing. Why they believed the homilies they recited. Why they moved to and/or lived where they lived. What sort of shoes did they have? Did colonial women smoke?  How did they cope with pain? What was share-cropping?

Amazon offers hundreds of books on this subject; just type in "social history California" or your state. Or just type those words into Google. 

If you're not satisfied with only knowing the names-dates-places for your ancestors, and what to know who they were, then dig into the social history of their lives and times. 

Websites for Learning Social History

 

Big thanks to the July/August 2022 issue of Family Tree Magazine for this information.

Why do we want to learn about social history? What has it to do with genealogy? It has everything to do with our family history! Genealogy is the facts. Social history gives the why-when-how of those facts. When I learned that my great-grandmother took her 8-year-old daughter (my grandmother, Clara) upstream on the Mississippi River to visit family in St. Louis, I wanted to know more about the circumstances of that story. THAT'S social history. 

We've probably all used Google to find images of what life was like for our ancestors in any past time period or place. That's well and good, but there are other website you might consider:

** Encyclopedia Britannica - yes! No more a groaning load of huge volumes on our living room shelves, but all online AND up to date!  (www.britannica.com)

** Food Timeline  (www.foodtimeline.org). What your ancestors ate, and how they fixed their food, tells you much about their daily lives.

**History Net (www.historynet.com). Search for U.S. history topics at this website from the California Gold Rush to D-Day.

**Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930... really long website address:

library.harvard.edu/collections/immigration-united-states-1789-1930

This Harvard Library resource allows you to search among thousands of digitized books, pamphlets, periodicals, manuscripts and photos to learn more about voluntary immigration to America.

**Library of Congress Digital Collections (www.loc/gov/collections). This site includes Chronicling America (the only US newspaper resource) and more. 

At the bottom of the article was this banner bit:  "Read Shelley K. Bishop's list of free social history website, categorized by subject at 

www.familytreemagazine.com/history/top-social-history-websites

There is ALWAYS more to learn about the lives and times of our ancestors.