Instant digital history
15 December 2006
This afternoon, thanks to Google’s blogsearch, I came upon something I haven’t seen before: a DIY instant history website.
Wethersfield in the Civil War is apparently brand new from someone at the Wethersfield (Connecticut) Historical Society and looks like a transcription of the work of one Wes Christensen. The site is hosted on Blogger and currently contains 42 posts, almost all dated 14 December. Some are placeholder pages, so perhaps this is just the beginning, but it’s already a complete, if bare-bones, website.
Most of the posts are listings–for each Regiment or Battery–of the men from Wethersfield who served in the War. Some of these include summaries or anecdotes of the unit’s service. Included is a table of contents which links to all the posts.
16th CT at Antietam
from ANBP
Atypical is the lengthy introduction, which makes particular note of the 16th Connecticut Infantry, one of the many green regiments so badly hurt at Antietam on 17 September 1862.
Aspiring digital historians could take a lesson here. Do you want to get a lot of information up on the web in a hurry with the minimum technical investment and no cost? Consider basic free blogging like Blogger or WordPress. Quick and painless.
It would be a good way to get your feet wet, anyway.
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December 15th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
[…] In Instant Digital History, Brian at AotW reminds us how easy (and free!) it is to make a history website. Brian highlights the Wethersfield in the Civil War site, which uses Blogger, as a example. The barrier for entry to the web is much lower, and keeps getting lower, making it possible for almost any historian with the motivation to put interesting, accessible history on the web. The Wethersfield site interests me too because it’s an example of how a blogging tool and the blog medium have been appropriated for purposes other than blogging. […]
March 2nd, 2007 at 5:37 pm
As the creators of the website (with material provided by Wes Christensen) we thank you for your kind words.
March 3rd, 2007 at 9:47 am
Hi Meehans,
you’re most welcome, and thanks to Mr Christensen for the research, and you for your fine work in putting our history online.