YouTube History
The People Profiles - YouTube
This is a channel devoted to the people of history. This channel was founded in 2018 and presents recorded biographies of historical figures. The documentaries are written and produced by historians who have Master’s Degrees in History. Initially, the documentaries lasted forty-five minutes however eventually grew to be an hour long. These documentaries are carefully written and put together. This would be a good starting point for biographical projects on historical figures.
The Untold Past - YouTube
The channel features stories from World War I, World War II, British History, and World History. New content is posted weekly. The majority of videos have a run time from eight minutes to ten minutes. These videos cover a variety of topics from people who were running the concentration camps, to executions that occurred after World War II, and some Tudor Topics. The documentaries on the executions of Concentration Camp Officers were interesting and very detailed. There are also some unknown stories such as the story of Noor Inayat Khan, a spy from World War II, Princess Mafalda, and Sir Thomas Overbury among others.
Biographics – YouTube
Biographics cover individual people from history. The tag line for this page is “providing biographic profiles of the men and women who -- for better or for worse -- helped write the pages of human history.” Videos are posted three times a week. The videos have a run time from fifteen minutes to twenty-five minutes. This channel covers a variety of people such as Abigail Adams, William Howard Taft, and Mary, Queen of Scots. This channel also covers lesser-known people such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, William Walker, and Luigi Cadorna. If a student has a project on a historical person, this should be their first stop to help get a good summary of the person they are researching.
David Starkey Talks – YouTube
Controversial historian David Starkey is back and has launched his own YouTube channel: David Starkey Talks. He is one of Britain’s leading historians and has narrated documentary series featuring royalty and the Tudors. This channel was launched in October and covers a variety of topics beyond the Tudors, such as Parliament, the House of Windsor, royal titles, and academic freedom. He also provides commentary on modern events such as the war between Russia and Ukraine. Some of the short videos last twelve to twenty minutes, however, he does feature longer lectures that could run up to an hour or even longer.
Part-Time Explorer – YouTube
This explorer takes his time and travels through history, exploring the history of transportation, particularly ocean liners. I first discovered his channel through his documentary about the SS Atlantic. He recently worked on a series about one former steamship company called the Collins Line. These short documentaries are well done and he and his partners do the animation for the videos. Additionally to ships and shipwrecks, he also travels on land to explore ghost towns. One interesting project this man is tackling is putting together a virtual museum of the Lusitania. Run time for these videos runs from three minutes to one hour.
Ask a Mortician – YouTube
Ask a Mortician does not just talk about death and funeral preparations, but addresses the history of death and the funeral industry. Videos have a run time from two minutes to fifty minutes. Her historical topics include the Bubonic Plague in San Francisco, the United States’ First Cremation, and Lake Superior. She also has done recreation of Victorian funeral practices and has covered scandals in the funeral industry. Kaitlyn is an excellent narrator when it comes to exploring iconic corpses or interesting historical stories. I would recommend giving this channel a chance if you find something that matches your class unit.
The Anne Boleyn Files - YouTube
Claire Ridgeway posts daily content on the Tudor Period, if you have a question about the Tudor Period then this is the page to get your questions answered. She runs the popular Anne Boleyn Files Website which features articles about the life and times of Anne Boleyn. From time to time she has guest stars on her channel and they talk about Tudor history. Her special feature is “On This Day in Tudor History.” Her current works include reaction videos about the Becoming Elizabeth series on HBO.
Classical and Ancient History by Guy de la Bedoyere – YouTube
This channel is hosted by a familiar face to Time Team fans. This channel belongs to Guy de la Bedoyere and this was the channel he used when he taught History and Classical Civilization. When he retired from teaching he kept the channel up and is posting his history talks. Although he focuses on Ancient History with this channel, there are discussions from later periods. Overall the focus is on ancient civilizations including old coins, Samuel Pepys, ancient Rome, and Ancient Egypt. Yes, from time to time he talks about his experiences on the Time Team.
World History – YouTube
This channel is similar to Untold Past. It focuses on World War I, World War II, Nazi Germany, and the 20th Century. World History was a channel established a year ago and new content is posted weekly. So far a lot of the focus has been on the crimes and punishments of the Nazis who participated in the Holocaust. Additional to the crimes and punishment of the Nazis, there are videos talking about the victims as well.
Reading the Past – YouTube
Dr. Kat is a researcher and lecturer that specializes in Early Modern literature and culture. She was featured in the documentary on Lady Rochford. Dr. Kat established her channel four years ago and posts new content weekly. She talks about a variety of historical subjects including the Pilgrimage of Grace, knighting ceremonies, and Shakespeare. The videos run from 10 minutes to 30 minutes long.
Big Old Boats – YouTube
The world is covered with water and so civilizations had to travel by water to get anywhere. This channel covers the history of ships, ocean liners, and traveling by water. The channel is relatively new being started two years ago and kicked off its exploration of ships with a look at Queen Elizabeth. The channel started off slow but has recently picked up with its posting. Ships include SS Columbia, Carol Deering, Queen Elizabeth 2, and the RMS Republic.
Railroad Street – YouTube
Railroad Street is a channel that covers the history of transportation whether it was on the railroads or on the water. The channel was started three years ago and only recently started posting more and more videos. Both railroad history and Great Lakes shipping history so far have been covered on this channel. The episode on the Marquette and Bessemer Ferry is a fascinating tale and the short video on Princess May was neat too.
Historic Travels – YouTube
This is more of a fun channel talking about ships, mainly with a focus on the Titanic. However, there were videos on the Oceanos and Lusitania. New content is posted weekly and the creator does deep dives into a variety of aspects of the Titanic. The animations he posted featuring the sinking of ships are well done and very interesting.
Maritime Horrors – YouTube
This channel features stories of tragedies that have happened on the high seas. It was a channel established two years ago. Both known and more obscure tragedies are featured as well as maritime mysteries. The videos run from eight minutes to thirty minutes. Disasters include the Andrea Doria, Dona Paz Fire, Mount Hood, and Princess Sophia.
This is a channel devoted to the people of history. This channel was founded in 2018 and presents recorded biographies of historical figures. The documentaries are written and produced by historians who have Master’s Degrees in History. Initially, the documentaries lasted forty-five minutes however eventually grew to be an hour long. These documentaries are carefully written and put together. This would be a good starting point for biographical projects on historical figures.
The Untold Past - YouTube
The channel features stories from World War I, World War II, British History, and World History. New content is posted weekly. The majority of videos have a run time from eight minutes to ten minutes. These videos cover a variety of topics from people who were running the concentration camps, to executions that occurred after World War II, and some Tudor Topics. The documentaries on the executions of Concentration Camp Officers were interesting and very detailed. There are also some unknown stories such as the story of Noor Inayat Khan, a spy from World War II, Princess Mafalda, and Sir Thomas Overbury among others.
Biographics – YouTube
Biographics cover individual people from history. The tag line for this page is “providing biographic profiles of the men and women who -- for better or for worse -- helped write the pages of human history.” Videos are posted three times a week. The videos have a run time from fifteen minutes to twenty-five minutes. This channel covers a variety of people such as Abigail Adams, William Howard Taft, and Mary, Queen of Scots. This channel also covers lesser-known people such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, William Walker, and Luigi Cadorna. If a student has a project on a historical person, this should be their first stop to help get a good summary of the person they are researching.
David Starkey Talks – YouTube
Controversial historian David Starkey is back and has launched his own YouTube channel: David Starkey Talks. He is one of Britain’s leading historians and has narrated documentary series featuring royalty and the Tudors. This channel was launched in October and covers a variety of topics beyond the Tudors, such as Parliament, the House of Windsor, royal titles, and academic freedom. He also provides commentary on modern events such as the war between Russia and Ukraine. Some of the short videos last twelve to twenty minutes, however, he does feature longer lectures that could run up to an hour or even longer.
Part-Time Explorer – YouTube
This explorer takes his time and travels through history, exploring the history of transportation, particularly ocean liners. I first discovered his channel through his documentary about the SS Atlantic. He recently worked on a series about one former steamship company called the Collins Line. These short documentaries are well done and he and his partners do the animation for the videos. Additionally to ships and shipwrecks, he also travels on land to explore ghost towns. One interesting project this man is tackling is putting together a virtual museum of the Lusitania. Run time for these videos runs from three minutes to one hour.
Ask a Mortician – YouTube
Ask a Mortician does not just talk about death and funeral preparations, but addresses the history of death and the funeral industry. Videos have a run time from two minutes to fifty minutes. Her historical topics include the Bubonic Plague in San Francisco, the United States’ First Cremation, and Lake Superior. She also has done recreation of Victorian funeral practices and has covered scandals in the funeral industry. Kaitlyn is an excellent narrator when it comes to exploring iconic corpses or interesting historical stories. I would recommend giving this channel a chance if you find something that matches your class unit.
The Anne Boleyn Files - YouTube
Claire Ridgeway posts daily content on the Tudor Period, if you have a question about the Tudor Period then this is the page to get your questions answered. She runs the popular Anne Boleyn Files Website which features articles about the life and times of Anne Boleyn. From time to time she has guest stars on her channel and they talk about Tudor history. Her special feature is “On This Day in Tudor History.” Her current works include reaction videos about the Becoming Elizabeth series on HBO.
Classical and Ancient History by Guy de la Bedoyere – YouTube
This channel is hosted by a familiar face to Time Team fans. This channel belongs to Guy de la Bedoyere and this was the channel he used when he taught History and Classical Civilization. When he retired from teaching he kept the channel up and is posting his history talks. Although he focuses on Ancient History with this channel, there are discussions from later periods. Overall the focus is on ancient civilizations including old coins, Samuel Pepys, ancient Rome, and Ancient Egypt. Yes, from time to time he talks about his experiences on the Time Team.
World History – YouTube
This channel is similar to Untold Past. It focuses on World War I, World War II, Nazi Germany, and the 20th Century. World History was a channel established a year ago and new content is posted weekly. So far a lot of the focus has been on the crimes and punishments of the Nazis who participated in the Holocaust. Additional to the crimes and punishment of the Nazis, there are videos talking about the victims as well.
Reading the Past – YouTube
Dr. Kat is a researcher and lecturer that specializes in Early Modern literature and culture. She was featured in the documentary on Lady Rochford. Dr. Kat established her channel four years ago and posts new content weekly. She talks about a variety of historical subjects including the Pilgrimage of Grace, knighting ceremonies, and Shakespeare. The videos run from 10 minutes to 30 minutes long.
Big Old Boats – YouTube
The world is covered with water and so civilizations had to travel by water to get anywhere. This channel covers the history of ships, ocean liners, and traveling by water. The channel is relatively new being started two years ago and kicked off its exploration of ships with a look at Queen Elizabeth. The channel started off slow but has recently picked up with its posting. Ships include SS Columbia, Carol Deering, Queen Elizabeth 2, and the RMS Republic.
Railroad Street – YouTube
Railroad Street is a channel that covers the history of transportation whether it was on the railroads or on the water. The channel was started three years ago and only recently started posting more and more videos. Both railroad history and Great Lakes shipping history so far have been covered on this channel. The episode on the Marquette and Bessemer Ferry is a fascinating tale and the short video on Princess May was neat too.
Historic Travels – YouTube
This is more of a fun channel talking about ships, mainly with a focus on the Titanic. However, there were videos on the Oceanos and Lusitania. New content is posted weekly and the creator does deep dives into a variety of aspects of the Titanic. The animations he posted featuring the sinking of ships are well done and very interesting.
Maritime Horrors – YouTube
This channel features stories of tragedies that have happened on the high seas. It was a channel established two years ago. Both known and more obscure tragedies are featured as well as maritime mysteries. The videos run from eight minutes to thirty minutes. Disasters include the Andrea Doria, Dona Paz Fire, Mount Hood, and Princess Sophia.
List updated on April 1, 2022
