National History Day

The New Hampshire Historical Society is a proud partner of National History Day-New Hampshire!

National History Day (NHD) is an education program designed to help students engage in history by completing original research on a topic of interest and then presenting that research in a project. NHD-New Hampshire is part of the national NHD program that involves thousands of students across the country every year. All students in grades 6–12 in New Hampshire are invited to participate, whether they attend public or private school or are homeschooled.

Students work as individuals or in collaborative groups to research and present their historical analysis in one of five categories; Paper, Exhibit, Documentary, Performance, or Web Site. Each project answers a historical question of the student’s choosing but relevant to the annual theme selected by the national program.

NHD can be tailored to each school’s needs and essentially has two major components:

• The Research and the Project: Students work with their teachers, either during class time or as a co-curricular, on their research and project. There are a number of resources to assist teachers in adopting and adapting this excellent inquiry-driven, project-based program for their students, including print and online guides and schedules, in-person workshops, and peer-to-peer mentoring for educators. For some students, conducting this research and creating their project might be the extent of their NHD experience.
• The Competition: For those who want to take their NHD experience further, there is a competitive process, ending in a national competition for qualifying projects. Although the process varies school to school based on each school’s circumstances, many schools hold schoolwide competitions for NHD projects. The winners might then compete in a regional contest, and the winners of that competition move on to the New Hampshire state competition, held at Plymouth State University. The winners of the state competition have an opportunity to participate in the national competition in the Washington, D.C., area in June.

Several special prizes are awarded at the state competition, including a prize of $250 for the best project focused on state or local history, sponsored by the New Hampshire Historical Society and the Association of Historical Societies of New Hampshire.

To find out more about NHD-NH, visit the website or contact the program director, Professor Kelsie Eckert of Plymouth State University.