12 World War II resources you may not have seen

World War II is one of the greatest tragedies in human history which is why it is so thoroughly studied. We are still so fascinated by it's endless tales triumphs of the human spirit amid the crushing scenes of horror. Below are twelve websites that go behind the scenes of the 20th century's defining event. Please note that a few of the categories share more than one website.

1- World War II in Color

World War II Pictures in Color is a site that contains over 30,000 photographs from history's most devastating war. As the title of the site suggests, many of the pictures are in color. You can search using their search bar or browse by category. The site also contains discussion forum for people interested in sharing information or asking questions. They also sell the photographs from their site as well as other items such as posters and videos.  If you are a history teacher or are interested in World War II, then head on over and bookmark World War II Pictures in Color.

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2- Digital Collection of WWII Propaganda Posters

Check out this  collection of historic World War II posters from the Cincinnati Digital Library. This collection of over 85 World War II propaganda posters are from both the U.S. and other nations. Since they are digital they can be downloaded and printed for use in the classroom. History teachers should race on over to this site ASAP.

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3- D-Day to Victory

D-Day to Victory takes you from the D-Day invasion to the fall of Berlin. It offers detailed stories of the soldiers and their experiences and uses stunning 360 degree animation to tell the story. This site is great for teacher, students, and any World War II enthusiast.

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4- Anne Franks' Secret Annex Online

From her journal to movies, the tragic story of Anne Frank has fascinated millions of people. Annefrank.org has a special section on their webpage called the Secret Annex Online that allows you to explore the secret annex where she and her family hid from the Nazis. From this site you can explore the apartment and all of the hiding places and learn about all the people involved. After you explore her living quarters you can view videos, read articles, and see photographs as well. The Secret Annex Online is one of the most compelling sources available to learn about the Anne Frank story.

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5- Science and Technology of World War II

The Science and Technology of World War II in an interactive site that contains information, activities and lessons about the scientific advancements that were made during the Second World War. Explore visuals in the Darkroom or learn to send a coded message in the Activities section. Lern more in the Timeline area or perhaps take a virtual field trip. The Science and Technology of World War II offers a wide variety of learning opportunities and includes lesson plans for teachers.

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6- FDR's Fireside Chats

FDR's Fireside Chats were radio addresses used by the 32nd president to inform and comfort the nation. They started during the Great Depression but he continued using them throughout the war. This site, The American Presidency Project, offers a selection of audio recording from Roosevelt's broadcasts. The Mid Hudson Regional Information Center offers transcripts of FDR's radio broadcasts which would make excellent close reads for students.

American Presidency Project - Hear FDR's Fireside Chats

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7- Photographs from the Office of War Information

For a collection of high quality color images from the American Home front, check out this impressive photo collection from The Atlantic. These images come from the Office of War Information (OWI). The agency, created by FDR, was responsible for reporting war news, promoting patriotic activities, and providing the media with audio, film, and photos of the government's war efforts. While most of the scenes were posed, the subjects were the real thing -- soldiers and workers preparing for a long fight.

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8- BBC History of WWII

BBC History has a terrific World War II section that's loaded with a variety of multimedia resources. This site contains detailed summaries of key events but keep digging because there is much more to discover. The BBC History site has animated maps, videos, audio files, quizzes, and more. This site offers a good comprehensive overview from a British point of view.

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9- Japanese-American Internment

Exploring Japanese American Internment is a site that seeks to teach about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. It uses video and other resources to explore this period of American History.

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10- American Home Front

Scholastic also offers a section about the internment of Japanese American but their site also explore other aspect of the American Homefront including rationing and women working in the war industry.

Americanhistory.org also has an excellent page that explains about rationing and the effects on civilians.

World War II in Color

World War II Pictures in Color is a site that contains over 30,000 photographs from history's most devastating war. As the title of the site suggests, many of the pictures are in color. You can search using their search bar or browse by category. The site also contains discussion forum for people interested in sharing information or asking questions. They also sell the photographs from their site as well as other items such as posters and videos.  If you are a history teacher or are interested in World War II, then head on over and bookmark World War II Pictures in Color.

Vintage Propaganda Posters- Two Great Resources

Check out this  collection of historic World War II posters from the Cincinnati Digital Library. This collection of over 85 World War II propaganda posters are from both the U.S. and other nations. Since they are digital they can be downloaded and printed for use in the classroom. History teachers should race on over to this site ASAP.

The Vintage Ad Browser is a website that features a huge collection of over 100,000 old posters and advertisements from as far back as the 1700's. Their home page identifies their 53 categories and when you click on one it automatically takes you to the oldest ads from that collection. Within each category, you can navigate by clicking on the pages or if you want to go to a different date you can choose one of the decades that run along the top of the page. Looking at vintage ads is a good way to learn about a particular era and to compare eras as well. History teachers will be glad to hear that the website has a large selection of propaganda posters from the 1800's up to the 2000's but note that most of the posters after the 1940's are from Communist China. If you teach social studies then do yourself a favor by checking out the Vintage Ad Browser.

Explore Anne Frank's hiding place

From her journal to movies, the tragic story of Anne Frank has fascinated millions of people. Annefrank.org has a special section on their webpage called the Secret Annex Online that allows you to explore the secret annex where she and her family hid from the Nazis. From this site you can explore the apartment and all of the hiding places and learn about all the people involved. After you explore her living quarters you can view videos, read articles, and see photographs as well. The Secret Annex Online is one of the most compelling sources available to learn about the Anne Frank story.

Digital Comic Museum

I was a comic book collector when I was younger so this site appealed to me personally. The Digital Comic Museum is a collection of comics from the "Golden Age of Comics" (1930's-1950's) that are now "public domain and have been put up on the net. For those of you who were around at the time, you will feel nostalgia as you look through this extensive collection of comics. Comic book collectors have the ability to read these classic comics without having to pay the huge price tag of owning them. Finally, the Digital Comic Museum has educational value because it provides a snapshot into American culture of the time. These comics were published during World War II as well as the earliest days of the Cold War so there is plenty of propaganda to be found for the social studies teachers out there.

In Case You Missed it

Just in case you missed it, here is a recap of the last 7 days.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Last Sunday featured one of my all time favorite finds 870,000 vintage pictures of New York City. What a great resource for teachers, history buffs of fans of old photography. Sunday's post also featured the humor site Pleated Jeans and Movie Cutouts site where you can buy card board stand ups of just about anything historical.

Monday, January 21, 2013

On Monday, the site CK-12 was featured and it is an amazing educational site with a huge library of resources for teachers and students. Monday's post also included Pongr, a site for people to share their favorite products and Gentlemint, a site similar to Pinterest but with a more masculine theme.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Tuesday's post started with History World, a site that contains historical information about people and places from around the globe. There were two other history related site on Tuesday, both centered around the 1960's. The 1968 Exhibit which was dedicated to the events of '68 and a site remembering the Discount Stores of the 1960's.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Wednesday featured two of my favorite resources from this past week. One was Earth Cams, a site where you can find live web cams from famous and interesting places all over the world. My mid-week post also had a great Denver Post photo blog about the Berlin Wall and there was  Television Tunes a site with a collection of T.V. theme songs.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

On Thursday, the first site shared was Overlap Maps, a cool site that allows you to compare the sizes of nations, states, bodies of waters and objects with each other. There was also 101 Questions, a site where you write a brief reaction to a picture or video and Headslinger, a site where information and news junkies can share their favorite stories with their friends and family.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Friday's post began with the American Civil War Photo Gallery, a site with over 1400 photographs from the Civil War period. There was also another photograph site, Beauty in Everything, which featured the best pictures found on Flickr. Last was the Infographic Directory, a collection of the web's best infographics.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Yesterday began with World War II Pictures in Color, a site that contains over 30,000 pictures from World War II. Saturday's post also shared another hilarious video from the folks at Bad Lip Reading, this one about the recent inauguration. Last was a site called Diagrammr, a site where you can create diagrams by writing sentences.

30,000 World War II Pictures, the Inauguration, and Diagrams

World War II Pictures in Color is a site that contains over 30,000 photographs from history's most devastating war. As the title of the site suggests, many of the pictures are in color. You can search using their search bar or browse by category. The site also contains discussion forum for people interested in sharing information or asking questions. They also sell the photographs from their site as well as other items such as posters and videos.  If you are a history teacher or are interested in World War II, then head on over and bookmark this great site.

Over a month ago I shared a You Tube Channel called Bad Lip Reading. They just came out with a new video from the recent Presidential Inauguration and the results are hilarious.I strongly encourage you to watch this video and if you enjoy it, take a look at the rest of their collection of funny videos.

Diagrammr is a very interesting site if you are looking for a simple way to create diagrams and charts. You can sign in using your Google account and then create your diagrams by writing sentences, which will put it into a simple diagram.

There is a short learning curve required as I found out when it took me about 5 minutes to work out the kinks and create the diagram below. Here are a few things to remember. (1)The sentences should be simple. (2) If you want to put more than one word in a box then put quotation marks around them. (3) Every word you type will show up

To give you a better idea of how to use Diagrammr, here is what I typed to create the chart you see above.
"George Washington" set precedents.
Precedents 1 "serving two terms"
Precedents 2 "using troops to enforce federal law"
Precedents 3 "creating a cabinet"

Notice that I started the second sentence with the last word of the first sentence. 

Diagrammr is really easy to use once you get the hang of it. Why not head over to their site and give it a try. This may be the easiest way to create a diagram.

World War II Posters and the Statue of Liberty

Another day, another history themed post. Today's post is dedicated to sites with historically themes images and by that I mean photographs and posters. Today's trip through time has us travelling from World War II then back to the late 19th century, and ending up in 2012.

First up on our tour is a collection of historic World War II posters from the Cincinnati Digital Library. These World War II propaganda posters are from both the U.S. and other nations. Since they are digital they can be downloaded and printed for use in the classroom. History teachers should race on over to this site ASAP.

Next on today's tour is the Denver Post's Photo Blog about the Statue of Liberty. This post was published in 2011 for the Statue's 125th anniversary. It features pictures from the creation of the Statue of Liberty as well as many rare pictures of the Statue over its 125+ years of existence.

Last on our tour today is a photo collection titled 46 of the Most Amazing Photographs of 2012 from a site called studentbeans.com. Many of the pictures will be unfamiliar to most people but there are a few images that everyone should recognize like Felix Baumgartner's leap. A few of the pictures are not from 2012 but the site claims they were "discovered" in 2012. It really didn't matter because the images in this collection are pretty cool.