Footnote

Footnote, which can found here at http://www.footnote.com/, is an unbelievable tool for History, Social Studies, and any teacher that appreciates a historical context to their lessons. Footnote is a repository of millions of primary source documents and photos. More specifically, Footnote offers over 62 million images that represent never-before-seen documents from every historical era and civilization advanced enough to produce said documents. Using a type of super-slick viewer interface that I have never seen before (and one that I found out that Footnote has actually patented), teachers and students can experience and interact with the actual documents produced by chronicled persons, agencies, and governments from decades and centuries ago. Check the screen-shot of Footnote's UI below, which is clip from a 1963 local Mississippi newspaper reporting on a murder case which had serious implications in the battle for Civil Rights:




The implications of having such a large database of original historical documents is quite astonishing. For example, students can look at the actual files produced by the US Army during the Vietnam War in regards to the awarding of "Unit Services Awards," which were given to special regiments that performed important duties with courage and bravery. Students can read the unfiltered accounts of exceptional army missions from the Department of Army, as well as the original recommendations for the awards from high-ranking army official and congressmen. Footnote offers a portal into the past by enabling its users to experiences original historical documents and artifacts first-hand.

Footnote's very impressive database is not merely a museum, however. Footnote provides its registered users with the ability add annotations and comments to the items and sections they find. This type of interaction could be great for classroom learning and very memorable for the students.

One of the most attractive aspects of Footnote is that it is extremely well organized. Teachers and students have the ability to search the archive by either keywords (subject areas) or by person. Footnote also offers a very slick and useful "time-line" feature that enables you to "explore [Footnote] by historical era". In addition, Footnote has "Spotlights", which are special archives that highlight specific historical events (i.e. "The Vietnam War Collection"). With so many effective ways to search the database, find your interests, and focus on specific topics, the Footnote users feel like the site was solely designed for and dedicated to his or her own subject area, yet retain a wealth of historical information at their fingertips.

Advantages: Obviously, Footnote would just be a phenomenal way to incorporate real historical artifacts into everyday lessons. Finding useful and creative ways to use Footnote would not be difficult at all. For example, a valuable homework assignment would be to have students simply search the Footnote archive for historical documents that are relevant to the current lesson plans, and then make thoughtful comments through the provided Footnote interface in . Not much else to say . . . as this is just a great application.

Disadvantages: Unfortunately, after some hours of use, you will probably find that not all of the original historical documents and photos stored in the Footnote database are free. However, this should not distract from the overall utility of this application.