Blog Profiles: History Blogs

Welcome to Blog Profiles! Each week, we select an industry or subject and a handful of sites that do a good job with promoting, contributing, and blogging about the space. Do you have a blog that deserves recognition? Tell us why @BeyondBylines. (Note: This post was updated on 7/19/21. For even more historical content, check out our 2017 list of even more history blogs.)

The news lately has been peppered with really interesting history pieces.

Two things that come to mind include when Boston opened its time capsule and revealed the contents in January and when England’s King Richard III finally was given a proper burial in March.

I love history. So that’s where I decided to go this week with blog profiles.

1. Boston 1775

Boston 1775 features “history, analysis, and unabashed gossip about the start of the American Revolution in Massachusetts.”

This is a cool blog, and it covers a huge amount of information. It’s authored by writer J.L. Bell, of Massachusetts, who specializes in the start of the American Revolution in and around Boston.

“He is particularly interested in the experiences of children in 1765-75,” the blog says. It continues, “He has published scholarly papers and popular articles for both children and adults. He was consultant for an episode of History Detectives, and contributed to a display at Minute Man National Historic Park.”

Bell is a prolific writer about this time in history in Boston.

I checked out a bunch of posts, including David Hartley: “Singular in his Dress”, Filling in the Hole in West’s Painting, and Stamp Act Approved by King, Leading to a Change of Government.

Follow @Boston1775 on Twitter.

2. History and Women

This blog is managed by author Mirella Sichirollo Patzer, who calls herself “the curious dame.”

The site itself features book reviews and stories about women in history.

Some of my favorite posts include Camille Claudel – Artist, Sculptor, and Lover of Auguste Rodin, 10 Historical Inventions You Probably Didn’t Know Were Patented by Women, and Maria Anna Mozart, which is about the elder and only sister of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (I didn’t even know he had a sister … fascinating.)

“As children, both were considered gifted musical prodigies and their father, Leopold, arranged tours to display their talents to the masses in the grandest capitals of Europe,” the post says. “Both children could play the most challenging pieces and could compose into notes any song they heard.”

Follow @MirellaPatzer on Twitter.

3. The History Blog

The History Blog covers simply what you’d expect: history.

It was launched in June 2006 and features posts about ancient history, books, education, medieval, modern(ish) history, museums, Renaissance, and social policy, among other things.

This blog gets right to it, covering really interesting times in world history. To select just a handful of great posts really was a bit difficult, but some notables include Rare Earl of Lancaster devotional panel found on Thames riverbank, 17th c. Ottoman war camel unearthed in Austria, and Anglo-Saxon eye salve kills MRSA superbug.

I read something similar to The History Blog’s superbug post recently on CNN: Thousand-year-old Anglo-Saxon potion kills MRSA superbug. OK, that’s pretty incredible.

4. Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York

This blog also calls itself “the book of lamentations: A bitterly nostalgic look at a city in the process of going extinct.”

The blog is written and managed by blogger Jeremiah Moss. If you read some of his About Me, you’ll find bits from other writers and publications, touting his expertise in the subject.

Says the Village Voice in Best of NY: “No one takes stock of New York’s changes with the same mixture of snark, sorrow, poeticism, and lyric wit as Jeremiah Moss … Even as the changes he’s cataloging break our hearts a little, it’s that kind of lovely, precise writing that makes Moss’s blog essential reading.”

It’s frankly why I selected this blog for a brief profile this week. I like Moss’s writing and his eye for telling NY’s stories.

Some posts that still have me thinking include Oyster Bar Blight, Caffe Dante, and The Last Bagel. OK, I loved this shop, which had been in business since 1976. It’s closed now; this hurts.

Follow @jeremoss on Twitter.

P.S. Ever wonder how we come up with ideas for our blog profiles? Our handy list of industries and subjects on PR Newswire for Journalists stays top of mind. If you’re a blogger or journalist looking for industry-specific or even geographical (like, New York, for example) news, let us know. We’re happy to customize any of those feeds for you on PR Newswire for Journalists.

Christine Cube is a media relations manager with PR Newswire and freelance writer. Follow her @cpcube.