National History Day
DPLA is proud to be a part of National History Day, a series of contests in which students present research projects related to a historical theme that they’ve developed using primary and secondary sources. Containing millions of primary and secondary sources, DPLA is the perfect complement to National History Day. The page below contains information and resources related to our efforts to increase access to DPLA resources for National History Day students. Questions? Email us at education@dp.la.
2019 Theme: Triumph and Tragedy in History
The 2019 National History Day theme is “Triumph and Tragedy in History.” Students should begin their research with secondary sources to gain a broader context, then progress to finding primary sources, and finally make an argument about the effects of a topic in history. Below are selected National History Topics from the 2019 Theme Book and corresponding sample search results, Primary Source Sets, and Exhibitions available via DPLA.
United States History Sample Topics
The Winter of Valley Forge: Triumph and Tragedy in the Continental Army
- Primary Source Set: Revolutionary War Turning Points: Saratoga and Valley Forge
The Missouri Compromise: Unable to Hold Off the Tragedy of the Civil War
- Primary Source Set: Henry Clay: The Great Compromiser
- Primary Source Set: Cotton Gin and the Expansion of Slavery
- Primary Source Set: The Underground Railroad and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
Salem Witch Trials
- Primary Source Set: The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Mormon Migration to Utah
- Primary Source Set: Mormon Migration
Chicago: America’s Second City
- Primary Source Set: Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie and the Urbanization of Chicago
Hudson River Valley School: Triumph of Nature
- Primary Source Set: The Hudson River School
The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Transcontinental Railroad
- Exhibition: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad
American Settlers Versus Native Americans
- Primary Source Set: Exploration of the Americas
- Primary Source Set: Cross-Cultural Colonial Conflicts
- Primary Source Set: Powhatan People and the English at Jamestown
- Primary Source Set: Spanish Missions in California
- Primary Source Set: Manifest Destiny
- Primary Source Set: Cherokee Removal and the Trail of Tears
Reconstruction: Tragedy Follows Triumph
- Primary Source Set: The Fifteenth Amendment
- Primary Source Set: The Freedmen’s Bureau
Alice Paul and the Woman Suffrage Movement
- Primary Source Set: Women’s Suffrage: Campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment
European History Samples Topics
Treaty of Versailles: Triumph or Tragedy?
- Primary Source Set: Treaty of Versailles and the End of World War I
Emmeline Pankhurst and her Struggle for Suffrage in Great Britain
Christopher Columbus: Triumph or Tragedy?
- Primary Source Set: The Columbian Exchange
The German U-Boats in the Battle of the Atlantic
The Marshall Plan: Economic Reconstruction of Europe
The Easter Rising: The Triumphs and Tragedies of a Rebellion
World History Sample Topics
Emperor Meiji’s Modernization of Japan
- Primary Source Set: Commodore Perry’s Expedition to Japan
Spanish Influenza: The Tragedy of a Deadly Virus in Wartime
- Exhibition: America during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic
Iran Hostage Crisis
Philippine-American War
- Exhibition: American Empire, specifically “The Philippine-American War“