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What is National History Day (NHD)?
National History Day is a national competition for elementary and secondary school students.
Students choose historical topics related to a theme and perform primary and secondary research using libraries, archives, museums, and historic sites as well as conducting oral history interviews.
After analyzing and interpreting their sources, students present their conclusions about their topics’ significance in history as original papers, exhibits, performances and documentaries. These products are entered into competitions in the spring at local and state levels where they are evaluated by professional historians and educators.
The program culminates each June in the national competition held at the University of Maryland at College Park.
NHD teaches students that history is not just about the names and dates of people and events from 200 years ago but about the stories that happen every day in communities around the world.
How can archivists get involved in NHD?
It all depends on how much time you want to devote. Here are few of your options -
Serve as a judge at your local or state contest. If you are in the Washington, D.C. area, consider serving as a judge at the national competition.
Organize and/or participate in workshops for teachers and students. These workshops can cover anything from the basics of how to do archival research to focusing on materials in your institution relating to the theme.
Mentor NHD participants.
Encourage and/or arrange class visits for teachers who have multiple students participating in NHD to your repository.
Develop and promote research days for NHD participants at your repository.
Design topical guides and posters that the NHD State Coordinators can distribute.
Create a NHD web page to assist students in identifying pertinent materials. As the topics rotate, pages can be left up but added to over time. The web page might include an overview of theme and potential topics, a bibliography of secondary sources by topic, a list of primary sources by topic, and links to online resources including catalogs and digitized documents by topic. Sample NHD web pages
Set up a NHD blog
Many archivists already participate in NHD at the local or state level on an annual basis. The most common role is as a judge. Both timing and lack of institutional support were deterrents to participation. You will need to decide what is best for your circumstances.
Future Contest Themes
2009 The Individual in History
2010 Innovation in History
2011 Geography in History: Impact, Influence, Change
2012 Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History
2013 Turning Points in History: People, Ideas, Events
2014 Diplomacy and Dialogue in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences
2015 Rights and Responsibilities in History
To learn more about NHD in your state, contact your state coordinator
http://www.nationalhistoryday.org/Coordinators.htm
For more information consult:
Bibliography of articles on NHD
U.S. NATIONAL-LEVEL GUIDES TO RESOURCES/REPOSITORIES
REGIONAL GUIDES TO RESOURCES/REPOSITORIES
STATE HISTORY DAY WEB SITES
Send comments on this website to Jan Blodgett.
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