Frequently Asked Questions

Can I copy the pictures and stories on Heritage History for my own use?

The copyright status of the files on Heritage History is somewhat complicated, and for a complete explanation, you'll have to review our Terms of Usage  page. But a short answer can be given as follows: If you are a teacher, student, homeschooler, parent, or any other private person who wants to use this material for your own non-commercial purpose, than yes of course. The website was created precisely to make these materials available to you. If, on the other hand, you represent a for-profit organization, or a website that sells advertising and you desire to republish our stories or pictures, than you must request and receive our explicit written permission.

Why are the book links of three different colors?

All of the books we have on our website are rated as one of three reading levels introductory, intermediate, and advanced When categorizing books we consider not only the reading difficulty, but also the general level of sophistication, and assumed prior knowledge. Many of the books that we have rated as introductory, however, are quite excellent, and could very well be interesting to older students if they are not already familiar with the stories. They provide quick and painless introductions to much of world history, and can be enjoyed even by an adult who is interested in a quick overview of an event or character. For more information about searches and link color codes see here.

I found an error on one of the Heritage History Pages. How should I report this?

The correction of errors on Heritage-History pages is complicated by a number of factors. First, we are an informal organization and all proof-reading is done by volunteers and is therefore limited. Second, we have striven to represent the books on our website precisely as the author produced them. These books frequently contain archaic spelling and usage, which may be mistaken for errors. Thirdly, the content of the Heritage History proprietary pages can be modified, but the content of the book pages cannot be altered, other than correcting typos.

If, in spite of these complexities, you persist in desiring to report errors, we appreciate your perseverence. You may report errors to infodesk@heritage-history.com. Please put "Correction Request" in the subject line, and the complete web address of the page under consideration in the body of the message.

Your website looks very interesting, but I have a terrible background in history. Where should I get started?

Welcome to the club. If you were born any time after about 1960 the odds are excellent that you have an extremely sketchy idea of almost all of world history prior to the Vietnam war. You are not stupid or ignorant. You were merely educated at a period in time when learning actual history, rather than trendy social science, was utterly out of fashion. Even the brightest and "best educated" people of your generation know very little history relative to their forefathers.

Because of the widespread lack of grounding in world history among the current generation of parents, the 2009 release of Heritage History includes several new features intended to help both students, and motivated adults "get started" learning history on their own, using Heritge History resources. For more details about these new features, see our New Features page.

Who are the proprietors of Heritage History?

Imagine the lead comic strip character, "Adam", from Adam@home, married to the "Alice" character from Dilbert, and head of a homeschooling family with five children. "Adam" is a native of Norristown PA, an Eagles fan, and he eats scrapple. "Alice" grew up in Seattle when it was a soggy, over-cast, industrial town but left home before it became a yuppie paradise.

We were both educated as electrical engineers and met in Silicon Valley. We have between us, 33 years of electronics experience at eight different start-up companies. (No, you haven't heard of any of them. If you had, there would not have been eight!) "Alice" quit her job after kid #2, but could not give up the 80-hour work-weeks (hence the five kids, plus Heritage History). "Adam" never worked 80-hour weeks, even when he was supposedly "working 80-hour weeks", and still doesn't. We bolted from California in 1997 and now reside in a small town in the Inland Northwest.

More information about how Heritage History came about can be found here. We can be reached at infodesk @ heritage-history.com.

Does Heritage History have a blog?

In January 2009 we established the Heritage Soapbox, and the Ask Heritage advice column. On the Soapbox we occasionally post articles and discuss history related issues. Ask Heritage is updated monthly and is the closest thing we have to a blog. We use it not only to answer user questions, but also to introduce newly completed books, articles, upcoming conferences, new features, and other items of interest. In a future revision we hope to create a system where by users provide book reviews, and other feedback, but those are still in the planning stages.

How is the Heritage History website related to the Baldwin Project?

Between 2004 until 2008, the proprietors of Heritage History worked closely with the Baldwin Online Children's Literature Project, contributing over 250 books, mostly related to history. At first, we did not feel the need to have our own website, but as our collection grew we decided that the additional features that we would like to support would be impossible to support on the Baldwin Project website. Also, we were specifically interested in promoting classical history books for all ages, rather than only "children's" literature. Heritage History still has access to about 100 books that were originally developed by Baldwin Project volunteers, and the Baldwin Project still has access to all of the books that were put on line before March 2008.

If everyting on your website is available for free, why should I buy a Compact Library?

You are right. Everything that we have available on the website is free. No one needs to buy anything. There are, however, four good reasons to purchase one of our Compact Libraries.

1) Copying the books from our website, and reformatting them so that they can be printed attractively is time consuming, particularly if the book has numerous pictures. The Compact Libraries contain print-ready books, prepared in an attractive, easy-to-read, and efficient format. Using our ready-to-print versions can save considerable time.

2) Even if you do not intend to print these books and are content to read them online, the format in which the books are prepared in the Compact Libraries is an improvement over the online HTML. The Compact Library files can be read with a PDF reader on a lap-top, displayed in full-screen mode, and advanced by page clicks rather than scrolling.

3) Each Compact Library was developed for a specific purpose and includes all of the material on our website which pertains to that topic. If, for example, you are looking for good books for a grammar school student, our Young Readers Collection will have all the best material. You will save yourself the effort of sorting through unrelated resources.

4) This website was produced as the result of six years' effort, thousands of volunteer hours, and tens of thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses. We do not currently charge any usage fees, accept advertising, or request donations. The only way to provide material support for Heritage History is to buy and use our Compact Libraries, or purchase books through our online store. If you appreciate our resources and would like to help us provide more in the future, please consider purchasing one of our Compact Libraries for yourself or your friends and family.