The First in Digital History

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The First History Site on Internet:

The site by Lynn Nelson of University of Kansas was probably the first history site on internet. It was released by Lynn Nelson in September 1993.

The method of use of web started among the Physicists in 1991. The actual shape of the web world emerged only by 1993 as developed in University of Illinois.

The First History Department Website:

"In November 1994, Morris Pierce, ..., created one of the first departmental websites for the University of Rochester."*

Morris Pierce launched the first website for a History Department of University of Rochester.

First Computer Course for History:

"In the fall of 1994, (George) Welling developed a course in computer skills for American history students and asked them to construct an American Revolution website."*

First Most Popular Website on History:

"Welling’s site, From Revolution to Reconstruction, quickly became one of first popular history websites."*

Welling's site, "From Revolution to Reconstruction" was first such site on History which became popular.

First History Discussion List:

"In the late 1980s, Joni Makivirta, a student at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, started an online history discussion list."*

It was Joni Makivirta from Finland who started an email listing for history on web. He followed the model of similar email listings in the field of general sciences. Later, Richard Jensen, one of the participants in the email list of Joni Makivirta started the H-Net email listing. It has now more than 100 such email listings. It can be accessed at h-net.org

First Display of Historic Material on Internet:

The first regular display of history material on Internet was done by Library of Congress in the year 1994.

Year 1995:
The year 1995 is a historic year because in that year Marc Andreesen and James H. Clark launched Netscape browser. It replaced the earlier method of Internet which was done through Mosiac, the first most popular web browser developed by National Centre of Supercomputing at University of Illinois. The same year is important for the history related sites as since than, History related sites have continued be launched on Internet.

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Source and Acknowledgement:

* Cohen and Rosenzwelg"Digital History - Guide to Gathering Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web" Print, Chapter 1, Exploring the History Web.

Also online version at http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/