Author: Maryland Humanities

2015 was a great year for Montgomery County’s History Day students! Four of the eight entries from Montgomery County went into the final rounds of judging at the National competition in June. Juliana Lu-Yang and Anna Barth from Montgomery Blair High School won an Outstanding State Entry award with their documentary “From Ones and Zeroes to a Compiled World: The Legend of Grace Hopper,” Sara Romeyn of Bullis School was recognized as a Patricia Behring High School Teacher of the Year, and Ananya Iyer from Eastern Middle School showcased her exhibit on Margaret Thatcher at National History Night Out at the Smithsonian. This year, we at the Montgomery County Historical Society have been working hard to make 2016 History Day an even greater success in Montgomery County!

Montgomery County is a very large and diverse county and plans are underway to make History Day even larger and more inclusive to our students. We took notice that students and teachers are always looking for accessible resources, especially local primary sources, and over the past few months our Education and Outreach Coordinator has been working closely with our Librarian and Archivist to make these materials more readily available, but we aren’t stopping there.

For 2016 we have created a topic sheet in relation to this year’s theme Exploration,

Encounter, Exchange in history which highlights local history topics, such as Dr. Edward Stonestreet and 19th century medicine or Clara Barton, as well as resources within the Historical Society to help students begin their research. Upon the request of Montgomery County Public Schools leaders, we are also digitizing our library and archival resources to make our documents and photographs more accessible to not only History Day students, but to be used in the classroom as well. A special Library and Archives Day will be held at the Historical Society’s Jane C. Sween Library in January to help students learn research methods, choose relevant documents and photos, as well as how to properly cite these resources in their projects. We will also be hosting archive and library training sessions this winter for parents, teachers, and any students who are interested in learning how to use these resources.

If you would like to learn more about Montgomery County History Day please contact Amanda Elliott at AElliott@MontgomeryHistory.org or 301-340-2825

The Montgomery County History Day contest will take place on March 12, 2016 at Richard Montgomery High School.

Are you planning to participate in National History Day this year, but you just can’t decide what to study? Here is the advice that my class of NHD students, many of whom have been participating for years, has for you:

“Start by picking general topics that fit the theme, and then choose the one that interests you the most.   Once you’ve decided on a broader topic, it’s easy to focus on an aspect of that era/point in history that best relates to the theme.” – Rachel Riedel, Grade 12

“Narrow it down! Instead of choosing a broad topic, find a specific person or event within that topic to focus on.  Also — don’t discard a topic just because you think it sounds boring.  Often when you start doing research, you’ll find that there’s a lot more to history than people know.” –Carrie Pritt, Grade 12

“I don’t have that much experience, but I would definitely say that you need to choose a topic that you are REALLY interested in because you will be doing a lot of research  and you can’t stop halfway through and choose a new topic if the one you have gets boring.” – Kelly McGovern, Grade 8

“Make sure it’s something you are really excited to learn about! If your topic doesn’t get you excited, the project isn’t interesting to you, and therefore won’t be interesting to the judges. Not fun! Also, be sure it relates clearly to the theme. You can have the greatest topic in the world and be as excited about it as you want, but if it doesn’t relate to the NHD theme, it will not get too far on competition day.” – Rachel Keifer, Grade 12

“I would say that you shouldn’t interpret the theme narrowly. Many topics can fit the theme. For example, the theme ‘Rights and Responsibilities’ doesn’t require you to do something on the Civil Rights Movement, and ‘Exploration, Encounter, Exchange’ doesn’t mean you need to do a project on Lewis and Clark. Think broadly.” – Joseph Harvey, Grade 11

Our class starts each year with a trip to the National Archives.  We go to the Learning Center and students sit around tables browsing through hundreds of documents, seeing what interests them and talking about how each one fits the theme.  You could do the same thing by skimming through a history textbook.  What catches your interest?  How do you see exploration, encounter, exchange in it?

Think about the time period you want to focus on. If you are doing a project involving visuals (documentary, website, or exhibit), you don’t want something too far back or you will have trouble finding sources.  For a documentary, look into topics recent enough to have primary video clips.  You do have to choose something that happened at least 25 years ago.

Think about local topics.  For example, if you know you are interested in the Civil Rights Movement, look into how it played out in your area.  You could go to your local historical society and look through documents. You might be able to interview people who were involved firsthand!

When you have an idea, do a quick search to see what primary sources are available.  If your topic is too obscure, you might have trouble finding information.

If you are doing a group project, keep brainstorming until you come up with something everyone is excited about.  Our groups make a Google doc and they all list ideas on it until they hit on one that appeals to everyone.

My last piece of advice is to set a deadline for choosing a topic.  There comes a point where you just need to say, “This is it.” Otherwise, you could go on wandering for months.

So, choose a great topic and have fun researching.  Maybe we’ll see you in May!

Have you selected a topic for History Day yet? Let us know what it is in the comments! 

Did you know that convict laborers from Great Britain worked alongside enslaved Africans and African Americans in Maryland, throughout the 17^th, 18^th, and 19^th centuries?

How about the contribution of German-Americans, who were responsible for much of the early development of Western Maryland, while also establishing many industrial and cultural institutions in 19^th century Baltimore?

Many don’t know that Baltimore Polytechnic Institute was the first public school below the Mason-Dixon line to integrate its student body, nearly a full two years before Brown v. Board of Education put an end to “separate but equal” schools nationwide.

Maryland has dozens of largely unknown stories like these, which are just waiting to be unearthed and publicized by student researchers. Since its inception, Maryland has seen Exploration, Encounter, and Exchange occur in fascinating ways, often before the more well-known national examples that one might learn about in school. Additionally, we are extremely fortunate that so many of the original documents, images, and recordings have been preserved for researchers to bring this history to life. For years, local students have been able to take advantage of the primary source collections made available at cultural institutions such as the Maryland Historical Society. By focusing on their own communities, History Day students become more personally invested in the research and have a genuine opportunity to affect the way their classmates and neighbors understand the places where they live!

 “The Maryland Historical Society’s primary sources and collections provided a truly unique research experience. Original records from the Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor and Statistics provided authentic information and it was amazing to be able to view these documents and gain information from them. MdHS has done a fantastic job in keeping all of the records and I would not have been able to reach the depth of information I had gained with my History Day project if I had not had received access to this information!”  – Megha Sharma, whose individual performance, “Children at Work: The Government’s Neglect of Children’s Rights during Baltimore’s Industrial Revolution” was an NHD finalist in 2014.

What Resources are available, and how do they support my research?

• Manuscripts – Our library houses more than 5 million individual manuscripts, representing the experience of Marylanders from as early as the beginning of the English colony in the 1630’s. Students can read letters between family members divided by the Civil War, or examine farm account books that provide us with fascinating glimpses into the lives of enslaved people and their owners. For those researching the personal perspectives related to the American Revolution, the War of 1812, Slavery, the Civil War, Agriculture or Industry, manuscript collections are an essential resource!

• Oral Histories – There may be no primary source as powerful as an oral history interview, which features the words of those people who actually lived through the historical events being researched. Mostly compiled from the 1970’s to today, these first-hand accounts address the local perspective of World War I, World War II, diverse immigration stories, and the Civil Rights movement, among other topics. The Neighborhood Heritage Project provides a particularly fascinating study of how various Maryland residents lived, worked, and socialized during the early/mid-20^th century. Students are also strongly encouraged to do their own interviews, especially of older community members and content experts. We can help with that process too!

• Photographs, Prints and Broadsides – Over 300 photograph collections in the society archives serve to bring a vibrant, visual catalog of the state’s history, from the 1860’s to the present. The Paul Henderson Collection introduces an unprecedented view of the early Civil Rights movement in Maryland (including leaders such as Thurgood Marshall and members of the Baltimore NAACP), as well as imagery of everyday African American families and communities during the mid-century.  Students may also be exposed to photos of the immigrant experience, rural life, architecture, transportation and industrial development, bringing local history to life in a way that cannot easily be found on the internet or in textbooks. Prints and Broadsides can take the researcher back even further, with artistic renderings of the state’s landscape, buildings, and people, so students can see their communities as they were in the 1700’s and 1800’s.

These resources and many more can be accessed through the Maryland Historical Society Library. Contact David Armenti, darmenti@mdhs.org/410-685-3750 ext. 324, to learn more or sign up for Open Archives Saturdays (October 24, November 21, and December 12).