n.an academic program and competition related to an annual theme that engages students in advanced history research, intended for students in elementary and secondary schools with competitions at the local, state, and national levelGrabowski 1992, 469One national program, National History Day, has tremendous potential for creating a new clientele and friends for a wide variety of repositories. Begun in Cleveland and now operating in almost every state of the union, this program’s intent is to introduce students to the “stuff” of history and, like local science fairs, to present awards for the best historical papers, projects, and presentationsHendry 2007, 120Many archivists assist students doing this type of research for their National History Day projects—a competition for history students modeled on the science fair.Gasero et al. 2011, 17Our involvement with National History Day (NHD) is one of our greatest accomplishments. While we have worked with students individually, we had an amazing opportunity to collaborate with a middle school NHD initiative.SAA 2014bNational History Day (NHD) and its executive director, Dr. Cathy Gorn, are 2014 recipients of the J. Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award. . . . ¶ Celebrating its fortieth anniversary in 2014, NHD is an academic program in which middle and high school students choose historical topics related to a theme and conduct extensive primary and secondary research through archives, libraries, museums, oral history interviews, and historic sites. After analyzing and interpreting their sources and drawing conclusions about their topics’ significance in history, students present their work in original papers, websites, exhibits, performances, and documentaries.NHD 2020The largest NHD program is the National History Day Contest that encourages more than half a million students around the world to conduct historical research on a topic of their choice. Students enter these projects at the local and affiliate levels, with top students advancing to the National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park.the nonprofit organization that runs the competition as well as teacher institutes and workshops, established in 1974Walch et al. 2006, 313National History Day, Inc., programs and summer history camps could be excellent early recruiting vehicles for the archival profession.NHD 2020National History Day (NHD) is a non-profit education organization based in College Park, Maryland. NHD offers year-long academic programs that engage over half a million middle- and high-school students around the world annually in conducting original research on historical topics of interest. Since 1974, NHD has continuously improved history education by providing professional development opportunities and curriculum materials for educators.
Notes
Founded in 1974 in Cleveland, Ohio, National History Day was the 2014 recipient of the Society of American Archivists’ J. Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award for promoting greater public awareness, appreciation, and support of archives.
