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Primary sources, research guides, and expert information: The Library of Congress has the resources you need for your NHD project, all for free at loc.gov.

Resources for National History Day Projects

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Encourage your students to start their research for this year’s National History Day with primary sources from the Library of Congress. Whether students are interested in examining a historic revolution, exploring social reactions to a particular event or idea, research the origins of a reform movement, or identify a topic that includes elements of all three Rs, the Library has online resources to support their project.

Students might start with our Primary Source Sets. The sets feature selected items from the Library’s digital collections that highlight and reveal aspects of a particular topic. Sources in each set reflect a range of formats, such as photographs, films, newspapers, manuscripts, interviews, and maps. Primary source sets also include a background essay that expands on major themes and ideas that items in the set help to convey. Sets also feature a list of additional resources from the Library that are relevant to the topic, including links to a particular collection, a Library exhibition, or essays written by subject matter experts at the Library.

Ready-to-use materials provide easy ways to incorporate the Library’s unparalleled primary sources into instruction.

Below is a sampling of primary source sets with possible connections to this year’s National History Day theme.

Primary Source Sets

For even more exposure to the Library’s vast resources, students might consult one of our many Research Guides, created by reference librarians and subject matter experts.

Screengrab of homepage for Library of Congress Research Guides
Selection of Research Guides available through the Library of Congress.

The range and scope of guides could be overwhelming to students new to using the Library. Students might start with guides from the History, Humanities, and Social Sciences Reading Room (research center), which feature many topics relevant to revolution, reform, and reaction including:

Students can also search in other reading rooms (research centers) of the Library. Categories and topics of reading rooms vary; some are format-based and others are organized by content or region. A few research centers that students may find helpful include:

Finally, another category of research guides that students might consult can be found within the digital collections of Chronicling America: Topics in Chronicling America.

Screen grab from webpage showing Chronicling America research guides.
A selection from Topics in Chronicling America.

 

These guides follow a formula that consists of an introduction and timeline, selected essays and search strategies within the historical newspapers collection.

We hope these ideas are helpful to you and your students. We’d love to learn more about how you use materials from the Library in National History Day projects: Please share your ideas and experiences in the comments!

 

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