National History Day

National History Day is an academic competition focusing on history students in grades 6-12. It started as a local program in Cleveland, Ohio, headed by David Van Tassell, a history professor at Case Western Reserve University. It grew from 129 students in 1974 to over 500,000 students in 48 states in 1991, and 700,000 students and 40,000 teachers in 2001. Today more than half a million students enter through local schools. They construct entries as an individual or in a group in one of five categories-Documentary, Exhibit, Paper, Performance or Website. Students then compete in a series of contests (School, Regional, and State) to proceed to the National Contest.

The mission of National History Day is to provide students with opportunities to learn historical content and develop research, thinking and communication skills through the study of history and to provide educators with resources and training to enhance classroom teaching.

History of National History Day

NHD started as a small contest in Cleveland in 1974. Members of the History Department at Case Western Reserve University developed the initial idea for a history contest akin to Science Fair. Students gathered on campus to devote one day to history calling it "National History Day." Over the next few years, the contest expanded throughout Ohio and into surrounding Midwestern states. By 1980, NHD had grown into a national organization and in 1992 NHD moved its headquarters from Cleveland to the Washington, D.C., area. Although the name remained the same, NHD is now a national organization with year-round programs and a week-long national contest held at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Historiography and nationalism

Historiography is the study of how history is written. One pervasive influence upon the writing of history has been nationalism, a set of beliefs about political legitimacy and cultural identity. Nationalism has provided a significant framework for historical writing in Europe and in those former colonies influenced by Europe since the nineteenth century. According to the medievalist historian Patrick J. Geary:

Origins of national histories

Although the emergence of the nation into political consciousness is often placed in the nineteenth century, attempts by political leaders to craft new national identities, with their dynasty at the center, have been identified as early as the late Roman Empire. The Barbarian rulers of the successor states crafted these new identities on the basis of descent of the ruler from ancient noble families, a shared descent of a single people with common language, custom, and religious identity, and a definition in law of the rights and responsibilities of members of the new nation.