LibGuides: History Unbound: National History Day

Theme

Each year, National History Day frames students’ research within a historical theme. The theme is chosen for broad application to world, national, or state history and its relevance to ancient history or to the more recent past. The 2021-2022 theme is Debate & Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences. Download the 2021 Contest Theme Book here.

Historical Argumentation Webinar Series

As part of the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Consortium, National History Day has developed programming to help engage NHD teachers and students with the vast resources of the Library of Congress.

Watch the webinars here.

Teacher Guides & Training

Guide to Student Research and Historical Argumentation
Guide put together for NHD by the Library of Congress
National History Day Courses

Diplomats of New York

Diplomats who were from or lived in New York State, plus some keywords about their tenure.

Secretary of State: William Learned Marcy of Troy, NY
1853 Gadsden Treaty, Cuba's sovereignty, fishing rights
Secretary of State: William H. Seward of Auburn, NY
antislavery, secession, foreign involvement with the Confederacy, the 1867 Alaska Purchase ("Seward's Folly"), French & Mexican affairs
Secretary of State: Hamilton Fish of NY, NY
the unpopular Johnson-Clarendon Convention, attempted acquisition of the Dominican Republic, Cuba's Ten Years' War & push for independence
Secretary of State: William Maxwell Evarts of NY, NY
Confederate privateers, independent Mexico, Chinese immigration restrictions, "Indian raids"
Secretary of State: Elihu Root of Clinton, NY
isolationism, Cuba tensions, Panamanian independence & canal construction, Morocco dispute, international arbitration, Department of State reforms & professionalization
Secretary of State: Robert Bacon of NY, NY
Panama Canal treaties, environmental conservation
Secretary of State: Robert Lansing of Watertown, NY
"benevolent neutrality" in WWI, Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Treaty of 1916 for Dutch West Indies, Open Door Policy of China, establishment of the Diplomatic Security Service
Secretary of State: Bainbridge Colby of Bemus Point, NY
Versailles Treaty, League of Nations, non-recognition policy of the Soviet Union, Mexican Revolution and "hemispheric cooperation", promotion of the Monroe Doctrine
Secretary of State: Charles Evans Hughes of Glen Falls, NY
limited foreign connections post WWI, Latin American arbitration, naval treaties
Secretary of State: Henry Lewis Stimson
naval power treaties, 1932 Geneva Disarmament Conference, Stimson Doctrine, war debts
Secretary of State: John Foster Dulles
containment of communism, US troop reduction, Suez Crisis, Hungarian Revolution, Indochina crisis, Eisenhower Doctrine, press conferences
Secretary of State: David Dean Rusk
Cuban Bay of Pigs, assistance for emerging nations, "dignified diplomacy", Cuban Missile Crisis
Secretary of State: Cyrus Roberts Vance
Panama Canal Treaty, human rights, arms control with the USSR, Israel and Arab peace, Iran crisis
Secretary of State: Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State: Antony Blinken of Yonkers, NY

Regional Resources on the topic of Debate & Diplomacy from NY Heritage

Hamilton-Burr Duel Collection
Correspondence between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton in 1804, leading up to their infamous duel. Their appointed seconds, Nathaniel Pendleton for Hamilton and William P. Van Ness for Burr, are also involved.
Otsego County Woman's Christian Temperance Union Collection
The WCTU was one of the largest and most influential women’s groups of the 19th century. They supported causes like the abstinence of alcohol, the protection of women and children at home and work, and women’s right to vote. There were chapters throughout the United States that fought at the local and state level to promote these causes.
Suffrage: Political Study Club of Ithaca Scrapbooks
The Political Study Club of Ithaca in Tompkins County, New York, was an outgrowth of the Equal Suffrage Section of the Ithaca Women’s Club, which had been formed in 1894. They fought for women's suffrage.
Belva Lockwood Manuscript Collection
Belva Ann Lockwood (1830–1917), a noted lawyer and a National Equal Rights presidential candidate, was a native of Niagara County. Her lectures covered topics like “The New Woman,” “Equal Rights,” “Suffrage,” “On Marriage” and “Women in Professions.”
Suffrage: the New York State Federation of Women’s Clubs
The suffrage documents from the New York State Federation of Women’s Clubs collection, though limited, demonstrate the complexity of the suffrage issue.
Suffrage: Elmira College Collection
This collection documents the student, faculty and institutional role in the women’s rights movement and is primarily focused around the passage of suffrage in New York State in 1917.
Milk Strikes of Delaware County
Bob Wyer was a newspaper photographer in Delaware County in the 1930s. This collection documents the 1939 and 1940 milk strikes, in which farmers tried to get more money for their milk.
Suffrage: Delhi Equal Suffrage Club Collection
Minutes and records of a small suffrage club in Delaware County, active between 1912 and 1915.
Historic Treatments for Mental Health
Ovid, New York was home to the Willard Asylum. This collection features photos, newsletters and notes from the psychiatric hospital.
The Civil Rights Movement in Elmira
Oral history interviews from the 1980s with former activists from the local Civil Rights movement.
War Refugees & Displaced Persons
Chemung County took in WWII refugees, and this collection shows some of the documents and records for processing and welcoming the new Americans.
Suffrage: Wells College and Howland Stone Store Museum Collections
Many collections including women's suffrage posters and abolitionist correspondence. Notable names of interest include Frances Folsom Cleveland memorabilia and Emily Howland.
Suffrage: Seneca Falls Collection
The first Women’s Rights Convention was held in Seneca Falls in 1848, putting into motion the efforts of women’s rights leaders to achieve equality for women in our nation.
New York Central College: Open to All
New-York Central College was an institution of higher learning founded by anti-slavery Baptists in 1849 in McGraw, New York. The college was notable because it educated blacks as well as whites in the time of southern slavery and northern segregation, and educated women with men at a time when few institutions of higher learning were co-educational.

Regional Resources on Debate & Diplomacy

Political Cartoons from Eugene Zimmerman
Eugene Zimmerman, or Zim as he was more commonly known, was a world-famous cartoonist in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He was an active citizen in Horseheads in Chemung County. Visit his home, which is now a museum, and check out his political cartoons, which speared and satirized the hot debates of his day.
Schuyler County's Seat
Where should the county seat of Schuyler be? That debate raged for over twelve years until it was finally settled in Watkins Glen, rather than Montour Falls, in 1866. The Schuyler County Historical Society has many resources in their collection on the topic.

History Unbound: National History Day

Join New York's National History Day Contest