Studying history is one of my great passions and I always find it interesting to learn more history. It seems like every year finds me learning more about different parts of history. Recently, I’ve been reading about the history of finance (The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson), but my other interests include the history of communications, the nineteenth century and other topics. I wasn’t always this way though – I once found history boring way back in elementary school. That started to change with my first visit to the United Kingdom in the early 1990s. In addition to getting to see castles, the Tower of London, Bath, Stonehenge and much more, I read the Horrible Histories series. Writen by Terry Derry and illustrated by Martin Brown, the series promises “history with the nasty bits left in.” What counts as nasty bits? Everything from the Black Death, wars, revolutions, feuding royal families and much more! The first books focused on British history, but it is has since branched out to cover the Romans, Aztecs, the USA and many other places. In addition to the many good books, there is also a BBC TV adaptation and a musical. These short books introduce young readers to history including politics, ordinary life and everything else. The “Horrible Histories” books – and that delightful first visit to Europe – are part of the reason that I am so interested in history.

Why am I blogging about this? As the video embedded below will show – “The Four Georges” – video is a communicaitons tool that educators and librarians have to master better. The “Horrible Histories” approach sometimes uses old fashioned approaches to history, such as a heavy emphasis on royal history and a bias toward the violent and messy parts of history. Then again, documentaries sometimes have a similar bias. History is complex and fascinating, but one has to start somewhere and these books (and later adaptations) may be a good place to start. That just means we use video with other things like primary documents, journal articles, maps and other tools. Today’s students have a variety of learning styles and text is not going to be the only tool we can use. Librarians may want to think about including videos in information literacy more heavily. That will involve thinking through where videos can be useful and what their limits are. I think a Horrible Histories clip could be a good way to begin a history class, for example. Videos like this could also be an interesting way of asking questions about how contemporary Britons thinks about its past.

There are quite a few clips from the TV program Horrible Histories on YouTube, one of the first examples below: “Born 2 Rule” by the Four Georges. Enjoy! I’m going to be humming this for a while.

The Horrible Histories clip on Roman Emperor Caligula is also well worth seeing.

Related posts:

1. Delve into library history: the Library History Buff Blog
2. The Librarian Guide to Cognitive Bias
3. “The Internet Is Tubes” Or: “The Internet is not a big truck…”

US Senator Ted Stevens (of Alaska) really likes to call the Internet a “series of tubes.” For many, this reference has so amused some people that music videos have been made about it.

I found it particularly amusing that Internet Explorer Version 4 (from the 1990s!) was featured so prominently. If you liked this video, there appear to be at least a DOZEN more such videos on YouTube, including dance remixes. The video referenced above has logged more than 1.5 MILLION views on YouTube – I wonder what the Senator thinks about that.

Related posts:

1. Canadians use the Internet a lot, eh
2. Horrible Histories: “It’s history with the nasty bits left in”
3. Fall Conference Season: Access & Internet Librarian

From the website:

In my writings, I have recounted stories of the barbarians and their endless battles with the demons of the frozen north, and devoted pages to the wizards of Caldeum who harness the primal forces  of reality. But the might of these heroes is nothing compared to the power of the archivists of Westmarch. These brave souls wade into battle wielding tome and quill, armored not in ensorcelled plate or links of chain, but in the knowledge of generations past. These archivists fight not only for our future, but for our past as well.

I first encountered an archivist in the ruins of the great city of Travincal. While exploring one of the long-abandoned temples, I was drawn by the flickering of faint torchlight through a distant doorway, and then, as I crept nearer, by the sound of a voice. There was a feeling in the air of danger near at hand, an electricity that made the hairs on my neck rise. I inched forward, breath caught in my throat, grateful for the safety of the hallway’s long shadows. Then I saw him.

[...]

I have the utmost respect for the archivists, these warriors of myth and legend. We know their names: Alimet Two Quills, master of illumination with both left and right hand; Morienne the Scrivener, a midwife whose poetry stole the hearts of kings and brought tyrants to tears; and Salazar Cid, the Master Transcriber of Gea Kul, whose bombastic penmanship is known in all the lands of the Twin Seas and beyond. But these are only a chosen few. The members of their honored fraternity are many, and their numbers grow every day.

As much as I enjoy such things (who among us didn’t enjoy the film The Name of the Rose?), I wonder how many people think of archivists like this. In contrast, you have the next generation of archivists: Digital Archivists, Now in Demand (New York Times, Feb. 7, 2009)

For an example (large and high resolution!) of the concept art, click on the More button:

Related posts:

1. York University Adopts Open Access Policy for Librarians and Archivists