Each year, more than half a million students, encouraged by thousands of teachers nationwide, participate in the National History Day contest. Students choose historical topics related to a theme and conduct extensive primary and secondary research through libraries, archives, 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. These products are entered into competitions in the spring at local, state and national levels where they are evaluated by professional historians and educators. The program culminates in the national contest each June held at the University of Maryland at College Park.
Organizing a project for the National History Day contest is a lot of work, but the Daniel Boone Regional Library has lots of resources to help you! As you begin your project, you are encouraged to visit any of our four branch locations for assistance with your in-depth research.
Getting Started | Preliminary Research | Online Primary Sources | Print Primary Sources
