The Multi-Talented Blog (Unit 3)

I viewed a number of blogs or blog-like websites, and I googled "Northern Virginia history blogs. I was surprised to see a few Northern Virginia blogs appear. I also looked at a few blogs posted by my Facebook friends and newsgroups. In addition, I investigated the blogs suggested by Professor Evans. 

I found some of the history blogs I explored stopped a few years ago. I was disappointed, but the information is still interesting historically. Other blogs I found are still active, but they are not totally "historic." However, they have elements or sections pertaining to history.

My interests involve the roads, locations, and events of Northern Virginia. Some of the history I have learned has come from Facebook Northern Virginia groups when different members post pictures or questions involving this area. 

I wish the materials posted on Facebook were more accessible. It takes some effort to find the information posted; Facebook's archives seem to be non-existant, which is unlike a blog. However, Facebook has better interactivity.  

Some of the blogs I reviewed:

Covering the Corridor: Your independent source for news around the Richmond Highway corridor - A blog website furnishing current news to people who live in and around the Richmond Highway. It is written by a gentleman's who lives in the Penn Daw area of South Alexandria, and he has spent ten years in print and digital journalism. 

It is not necessarily "historic," but this blog could be a starting point for a history quest. Quite often I see, hear, or read about a building or a  piece of land, and I start investigating the history. A couple of months ago, I saw billboards for a hearing on a piece of property that has been vacant for at least 25 years. Before that time, I remembered a trailer park was located there. I did a short search to find a bit of information on it to find out more just for the fun of it. So, I think of sites like this as history quest starters.

World War II History: A blog covering a number of WWII news, photos, audio and )information. Pretty interesting, but two of the images on the first page are missing along with no updates since October 2015. The blog was created by a part time historian and collector of WWII memorabilia, and he wished to preserve history so others could learn from. 

One article I found interesting was the "North Bathing Facilities on U-Boats Led to... My uncle was on a ship that captured a U-Boat. The one that eventually ended up at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. He related about the rewiring he and his buddies did on the sub. However, he never said anything about the stench.

WWI: Experiences of an English Soldier: A blog of transcripts of letters written by a soldier during World War I. I liked this blog because the way it was set up in the form  of sequential letters to build  readers' interest. It was maintained on a regular basis until the death of blog's owner. 

Virginia Historical Society's Blog: A blog covering historical aspects of Virginia. Lots of articles and topics for discussion and learning. This blog publishes articles by various writers rather than a single writer. The blog uses WordPress website style rather than a blog style to showcase its articles, and this is very inconvenient for perusing prior articles. The search function works, but there is no blog style content list. Navigation is not easy for this site.

The above example blogs show the different ways that blogs can be used to study history.

I am going to continue following Northern Virginia History and start to follow Boundary Stones. Both post very interesting materials. I also follow other local orientated Facebook groups.