While we were on Covid lockdown, this channel popped up on my YouTube Suggestions: Fall of Civilizations.

This channel historic civilizations and explores why they fell.  The information is fairly detailed.  This is information you do not get in school!  Each podcast explores a civilization that you do not learn in school either! 

The first episode of the podcast was the collapse of Roman Britain.  The episodes on the Mayans and Aztecs; the Mayans especially since their collapse is still so mysterious as well as the civilization.  The Aztecs since they went out with a bang.

Downside of this channel is that new podcasts come out slowly, however research and script writing takes time and the quality of the information presented more than makes up for the slow releases.

Teachers and Students, feel free to explore the channel, you should find some interesting information for your classes.

This post will feature a few Resources on The Tudors

Reading the Past - A YouTube Channel featuring Dr. Kat on a variety of historic topics especially in the area of Tudor History.

The Anne Boleyn Files - Claire Ridgeway's YouTube channel featuring a whole lot of Anne Boleyn content as well a a daily feature called "On This Day" in Tudor History.

The Anne Boleyn Files - Claire Ridgeway's website Anne Boleyn files.  Claire Ridgeway is researcher and loves Tudor History and Anne Boleyn.

Writing a paper on Queens or Princesses for a class?  Check out History of Royal Women website/database.  It's a perfect database for the history of Royal Women.

You'll discover a variety of royal women and their lives.  I remember when the authors first started the blog, they had their set up by countries.  In the past five years they really expanded their content and now sort royal women according to the countries where they ruled and now have a drop down menu of the royal women.  When you click the country it will take you to a list of the royal women and then from there you can pick an article to read.

There are special series where one royal woman is focused on for the year, the authors highlight places to visit and what books have been published about royalty.  The first royal woman of the year was in 2016 and it was a year of blogging about Queen Mary I of England.  Each blog in the "Year of Series" features facts about their life, any children that were born to that queen, life facts, reign facts, and any thing interesting about the royal.  In 2018, it was the year of the Last Romanovs, since it was the 100th anniversary of the death of Nicholas and Alexandra.  Not only did they feature Nicholas and Alexandra and their family, but the other Romanov women who were killed due to the Russian Revolution.

If you need a book for your reading list, then check out their suggestions.  If you're taking a trip, then look at the places where they visited to see what you would like to add to your itinerary.   If you need something for a class, then check out their suggestions and their articles.  Then check out the their sources to get more information for that research paper.

Each article is well written and thought out.  The authors are excellent at citing their sources and are fantastic at incorporating photos into their blog.  It also helps that Historical Dramas are a popular genre and that there's excellent period dramas out there.  When there are no paintings or illustrations of the royal, they use content from period dramas. They also have a Google Translate button, so even if you don't speak English you'll be able to find the information you need.

I didn't realize that South Korea still had a royal family and that there was an American that married into it.  In school I had read the Royal Diary, Seodonk, the Queen of Silla and it was through this blog I learned about some additional Korean royalty including Consort Jang.  This lead me to the Korean Series Dong-Yi.  They authors just recently posted an article about the Royal Women of the German TV series Maximilian.

2020 was the year of Queen Wilhelmina, so what will 2021 bring, we'll find out soon. 

Teachers, students and homeschoolers will be able to find something on this website.  Even if you're not a teacher, student or homeschooler, and curious about royal women this is an excellent website to satisfy your curiosity.  I highly recommend that if you need a quick background on a royal woman for a high school paper head on over to History of Royal Women.

In 2018 I had the opportunity to go to ARSL 2018 in Springfield.  I took a tour of President's Lincoln's House in the morning before the sessions started for the day.  Our tour guide was fantastic and was teasing us librarians about being a "wild bunch." 

When I was young, I wanted to visit this old house while we were at the capital but my parents told me that no kids were allowed.  It was awesome to visit it before the sessions started for the day years later.

Springfield was a very walkable city, so I did some Pokemoning while I was there.  The city offers free wifi in downtown Springfield.  I had a great time.

Like this blog, this building is a work in progress, especially over the past few months. I believe it was an old cheese factory and then it sold tires.  For years it was lived in, but abandoned a couple of years ago. Hopefully it will get fixed up soon.

One of these days I may run into the people who are fixing it up. I really want to talk to them about what they're doing.  It would be a fascinating place to explore.

Location: Northeast Wisconsin

I hope that all my readers have a safe and happy holiday this year. It has been a hard year for everyone, but I hope that everyone got what they want.

Full Steam Ahead series concludes with the impact of the railroad on Vacation time.  Leisure time is a new concept that the Railroads helped developed.  Alex, Peter and Ruth explore the Victorian Traveler and go to different vacation spots.

I hope you enjoy watching this series and bringing it into the classroom.  I would have no problem with sharing this series in an American History class as the railroad had a big impact in the US.

For use in the classroom, just highlight, copy and paste into a word document.  This series is available on YouTube.

Questions:

1. What was used to help point the engine in the right direction?
2. What started Alex’s day?
3. What was important to keep warm?
4. What took off in Late Victorian Britain?
5. What could potentially be offered by the railroad?
6. How long did it take to prepare the steamer?
7. When was the National Trust Founded?
8. What was the national event Prince Albert organized in 1851?
9. How much of Britain’s population visited the Great Exhibition?
10. What else could be transported by railroad?

Answers: 

1. What was used to help point the engine in the right direction? - Turn table
2. What started Alex’s day? - A wake up call from a knocker upper
3. What was important to keep warm? - Feet
4. What took off in Late Victorian Britain? - Dog owning
5. What could potentially be offered by the railroad? - A ride on a paddle steamer
6. How long did it take to prepare the steamer? - 3 hours
7. When was the National Trust Founded? - 1885
8. What was the national event Prince Albert organized in 1851? - The Great Exhibition
9. How much of Britain’s population visited the Great Exhibition? - 1/3rd of the population
10. What else could be transported by railroad? - Entertainment

Full Steam Ahead Episode 5 - The impact of Branch Lines on Local Industries.  Alex, Ruth and Peter explore the trains impact on local crafts and food.  Peter and Alex take a test to see who can work on the railroad.

For use in the classroom, just highlight, copy and paste into a word document.  This series is available on YouTube.

Questions:
Episode 5

1. How many cows did Victorian London have?
2. What’s the first thing Peter and Alex were checked for before working on the railroad?
3. What else were they tested for?
4. What was Peter’s first job on the railroad?
5. What size of the milk churns were used?
6. If a worker was injured, how did the railroad take care of them?
7. What did Peter cook in the firebox?
8. Why would milk tankers seem like a bad idea?
9. What is the difference between a branch line and a main line?
10. What sense did the drivers use at night?

Answers:
Episode 5

1. How many cows did Victorian London have? - 25,000
2. What’s the first thing Peter and Alex were checked for before working on the railroad? - Eyesight
3. What else were they tested for? - Colorblindness
4. What was Peter’s first job on the railroad? - Cleaning out the fire box
5. What size of the milk churns were used? - 10 gallons
6. If a worker was injured, how did the railroad take care of them? - Provided a different job, provide artificial limbs
7. What did Peter cook in the firebox? - Bacon
8. Why would milk tankers seem like a bad idea? - One bad churn of milk could contaminate the whole tank
9. What is the difference between a branch line and a main line? - Branch lines were one track
10. What sense did the drivers use at night? - Hearing

Full Steam Ahead Episode 4, the questions and answers. 

This episode covers how the railroad had an impact on how mail was delivered.  Peter works a mail train, while Ruth and Alex work at the stations.  Peter, Alex, and Ruth finish the episode traveling on the Flying Scottsman and experience service on one the earliest fastest trains in Britain.

For use in the classroom, just highlight, copy and paste into a word document.  This series is available on YouTube.

Questions
Episode 4

1. What was the solution for faster mail delivery?
2. What was one of the earliest documentaries produced?
3. What does TPO stand for?
4. How was time originally told?
5. What happened to time due to trains?
6. What was electricity used for?
7. What was Alex’s message to Peter?
8. What was Peter’s message to Alex?
9. What was the odd thing offered through the newspapers?
10. What was the train Peter, Alex and Ruth traveled on?

Answers:
Episode 4

1. What was the solution for faster mail delivery? - Trains
2. What was one of the earliest documentaries produced? - Night Mail
3. What does TPO stand for? - Traveling Post Office
4. How was time originally told? - sundials
5. What happened to time due to trains? - Time was standardized
6. What was electricity used for? - Telegraphs
7. What was Alex’s message to Peter? - Are you receiving me?
8. What was Peter’s message to Alex? - I before E
9. What was the odd thing offered through the newspapers? - babies
10. What was the train Peter, Alex and Ruth traveled on? - Flying Scotsman

This is another fantastic channel for a social studies class:  Bright Sun Channel

The information in each episode is well written and well presented.  It's also a good mix of historical and modern history, economics, and interesting topics.  There are several series such as Abandoned, Story of and Bankrupt.  Jake is a good narrator and each episode is well thought out and well organized. 

My Five top picks of videos (in no particular order):
Abandoned - Centralia
Story of the Oceanos
Story of Andrea Doria
Abandoned - Houston Astrodome
Abandoned - Charity Hospital

Teachers and homeschoolers should definitely check out this channel.