Tip of the Week – 65 History Twitter feeds

Okay, I may have done the math wrong. But whatever the number is, it’s a bunch of very cool and useful Twitter feeds. Grab a couple or three of them and expand your Personal Learning Network.

A quick and easy way to grow the list is to check out who these users are following. In no time, you’ll have tons of links to tons of stuff.

And just in case you’re interested:

glennw98: Occasional blogger, presenter and history nerd.

General

From news to history blogs, you’ll find it all from these history Tweeters.

1. @librarycongress: The official feed from the Library of Congress.
2. @smithsonian: General news from the Smithsonian
3. @amhistorymuseum: Updates from the National Museum of American History
4. @smithsonianNMAI: National Museum of the American Indian news
5. @NMAAHC: National Museum of African American History and Culture highlights
6. @SmithsonianEdu: Things from the Education folks at the Smithsonian
7. @DocsTeach: Updates from NARA’s latest web site focusing on primary docs
8. @discovercivwar: NARA’s great Civil War site
9. @GLIAmericanHist: Gilder Lehrman Institute has great US History stuff
10. @plimoth: Plimoth Plantation’s cool stuff
11. @historytweeter: This Twitter feed is all about history.
12. @PocketHistory: Check out @PocketHistory to find random facts from world history.
13. @Historyday: See what happened on this day in history with @Historyday.
14. @greathistory_: Great History highlights the best in history blogging.
15. @HistoryOfAll: Here you’ll find the official Twitter page of Everything is History.
16. @HeritageTwit: @HeritageTwit has the latest news and thinking on heritage policy.
17. @timelines: Use @timelines to discover, record, and share history.
18. @VHStudio: @VHStudio shares history through visual art and imagery.
19. @ThomasJefferson: Quotes and says from the Jefferson.
20. @GeoWashington: Tweets as if Washington were writing them in real time.
21. @Boston1775: History, analysis & unabashed gossip about the American Revolution in New England.
22. @Medievalists: Interested in the Middle Ages and Medieval History?
23. @EarlyAmerica: Timely and exciting stories of early America’s historic past.
24. @ushistorysite: Helpful links and resources.
25. @colonialwmsburg: News and updates from Colonial Williamsburg.
26. @teachinghistory: Central place online for K-12 American history education
27. @MissedinHistory: Didn’t pay attention in history class?

Media

See the historic media at work on Twitter.

1. @historynetwork: This network specializes in history podcasts.
2. @HistoryChannel: @HistoryChannel has a variety of non-fiction series and specials.
3. @ArchaeologyDN: Archaeology Daily shares news, headlines, and more in archaeology and related disciplines.
4. @BBCHistoryMag: Dave Musgrove is the editor of BBC History.
5. @HistoryTimes: Through this account, you can learn from the editors of the History Times.
6. @Discovery_News: @Discovery_News has a variety of programs on history and beyond.
7. @HistoryToday: On @HistoryToday, you’ll find news and thoughts from Paul Lay of History Today magazine.

Educators & Students

Check out these feeds for the educational side of history tweeting.

1. @MisterHistory: David Hilton uses online resources to teach history.
2. @nchsucla: This organization brings historians and teachers together .
3. @titzel: Art Titzel teachers American cultures in Pennsylvania.
4. @jmcclurken: Jeff McClurken’s work lives at the intersection of teaching, history, and technology.
5. @dancohen: You’ll learn about history and new media from this professor of history.
6. @mcohen00: Melissa Cohen tweets about high school history and film.
7. @thinkbigbebig09: Waldemar Rollan is an economy and history professor.
8. @russeltarr: Author of ActiveHistory.co.uk.
9. @bencarp: Early American tweets and resources.
10. @kenhalla: Lots of news from US History teacher.

Documents & Publications

These feeds specialize in maps, documents, books, and more.

1. @TheHistoryPress: This publisher specializes in history texts.
2. @TimeMaps: TimeMaps works to visualize history and chronology.
3. @LookBackMaps: Jon Voss shares history through maps.
4. @tannerritchie: Here you’ll find a publisher of daily historical sources.
5. @history_book: @history_book shares new history book releases.
6. @historycellar: This blog has unseen documents and more.
7. @RagLinen: @RagLinin is an online museum of rare newspapers.
8. @footnote: Check out @footnote to find original documents online.
9. @TheWomensMuseum: @TheWomensMuseum highlights heroines from the 1500s to the present.
10. @Culture24: @Culture24 has news, listings, and more from thousands of historical resources.
11. @tenementmuseum: Check out this museum to learn about tenements.
12. @CapitolHistory: This organization educates the public about the history of the US Capitol and Congress.
13. @Gozaic: This travel community explores heritage sites and culture rich places.

Military

These accounts specialize in military history.

1. @wceberly: Here you’ll find a historian, author, and oil painter.
2. @WWIIToday: AT Nelson tweets about news and ideas from WWII.
3. @SecondVirginia:Recreating the Virginia soldier of the Revolutionary War.
4. @RevolutionaryPA: A site dedicated to the colonial and Revolutionary War history of the Keystone State.
5. @MilitaryChannel: Check out this feed for tweets from the Military Channel.

Historical Tweets

Read these accounts to see what Twitter would have sounded like throughout history.

1. @HistoricTwits: @HistoricTwits has a collection of the best tweets that might have been in history.
2. @historicaltweet: You’ll find funny Twitter messages from history on @historicaltweet.
3. @TwtsFromHistory: Here you’ll find a Twitter study of history.

Hashtags:

You can also use Twitter to follow hashtags. Hashtags are a way for you follow a theme or topic rather than a person or organization. The problem?

You can’t follow a hashtag directly through your Twitter account.

This is perhaps the most confusing point for people who are new to hashtags — but it’s important to understand. From your Twitter account you can only “follow” other Twitter users (accounts set up for an individual, organization, project, event, etc.). A hashtag is not a Twitter account that you can click a “follow” button for. It’s a way to label or tag tweets so they can be easily pulled together. A hashtag is always a word preceded by the pound sign and users insert them into their tweets.

Some sample hashtags?

• #historyteacher
• #history
• #socialstudies

The easiest to follow hashtags is to use Twitter Search.

Since a hashtag is nothing more than a character string inserted into a tweet, it’s something that you can search Twitter for. Therefore, the most basic way to track hashtags through your web browser is:

1. Go to Twitter Search.
2. Search for a hashtag you want to track. Include the “#” in your search query. Here’s a search for #historyteacher
3. Keep that page open in a browser tab, and refresh it periodically to see the latest results. Or subscribe to the feed for your search in your feed reader, and check there occasionally for updates.

Have fun!