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What Is National History Day?

National History Day (NHD) is an educational program which encourages middle and high school students to celebrate their skills as historians and exposes them to the processes, sources, and complexities of historical research.

Working as individuals or in groups, students (grades 6-8 and 9-12) choose a topic relating to a nationally established annual theme.   Students investigate their topic, develop a thesis, and interpret primary and secondary sources to apply it to the national theme.   These students then bring history to life in meaningful ways by presenting their project in one of the four formats: paper, museum-style exhibit, dramatic performance, web site, or video documentary.

Co-curricular or extra-curricular, NHD succeeds in proving true the axiom: learning by doing.  Every spring students are chosen by their schools to demonstrate the product of their hard work in a state-wide contest held at PSU.   The best projects, as judged by a panel of professional historians and educators, are selected to represent the state at the five-day-long national competition at the University of Maryland, outside of Washington DC.

National History Day in New Hampshire (NHDNH) is the state host of this exciting program, supported by PSU and other state-wide educational organizations.  The program continues to grow so we welcome everyone who is interested!  Nationwide, over 700,000 middle and high school students participate in NHD each year.  Help us make NH a greater part of that.