Our Favorite Historical Instagram Accounts

Are you doing a lot more scrolling on your phone lately? No judgement here! No one can keep kids focused on arts and crafts for 10 hours! If you know anything about the folks of Williamsburg, you know we strongly believe that history is fun. That’s why we rounded up five of our favorite historical Instagram accounts for you to keep life enriching. 

So the next time you need a break from an at-home science lesson or a messy DIY craft, grab the kids, hop on Instagram, and scroll and learn together. 

@historyphotographed

If you enjoy interesting true stories, this account is a must-follow. We love @historyphotographed because their posts focus more on smaller true stories (including those behind big events) and random but juicy pieces of information. For example, we bet you don’t know the origins of the T-shirt. And you’ve probably never seen the skeleton of the largest turtle that ever lived. And did you know that before alarm clocks became ubiquitous, you could earn a couple of pence a week shooting dried peas at people’s windows to wake them up?

@history

Run by the History Channel, this popular account often uses the hashtag #thisdayinhistory, so you can learn about something interesting that happened in history just about every day. Discover anything from the day the Twinkie was created to how President Roosevelt combated unemployment during the Great Depression. Llearn about presidents, baseball, the first pizzeria, and American icons like Rosa Parks and Crispus Attucks.

@historycoolkids

This account shares human stories with amazing photographs and paintings. Everything is covered here, from pop culture to ancient history, and, most interestingly, the quirks of humans and their cultures. One of the best things about @historycoolkids is the detailed captions. Here are some goodies to whet your appetite: How Bobbi Gibb broke the gender barrier in 1966 by being the first woman to compete in a marathon, the anti-distraction helmet, and a look at how English has changed over 1,000 years.

@gettymuseum

This wonderful account posts photos of famous paintings with captions that tell the stories behind them. They also post resources and fun challenges, like recreating a work of art with materials at home. Since Covid took hold of the world, their posts have been about evoking a sense of calm, which we definitely appreciate. We love Monet’s painting of the same cathedral in different lighting, and this link to baking bread the medieval way is great if you’re someone who’s taken up the calming activity of breadmaking. 

@historycolored

Here’s the last of our our favorite historical Instagram accounts. There is something pretty cool about seeing old black and white photos in convincing color. This account shares the work of incredible “colorizers” as well as the photos’ black-and-white counterparts on @historyblackandwhite. Check out Al Capone’s mugshot (and that scar!), this 1860s portrait (the clothes people wore!), and the Beatles’ first USA concert.

And here’s a handful of Covid-related posts to remind us that sometimes history repeats itself, and time marches on:

Walter Reed Hospital deals with the influenza pandemic of 1918.

A couple kissing through masks in 1937.

Typhoid in New York City.

Masks for the whole family during the Spanish Flu epidemic.

Jonas Salk creates the first polio vaccine.

P.S. More fun things! Up for a stroll? Plus, try a tour of these 12 famous museums.