Greetings fellow archivists!

Each year, more than half a million elementary and secondary students, encouraged by thousands of teachers nationwide participate in the National History Day contest. Students choose historical topics related to a theme and conduct extensive primary and secondary research through libraries, archives, museums, oral history interviews, and historic sites. This year's theme is Innovation in History: Impact and Change.

The archival community can serve a vital function in National History Day by working with local teachers and state National History Day coordinators to make them aware of the possibility of conducting research at nearby archival institutions. In addition to proving support to the National History Day program, participation in NHD is a great way for archives to reach out to nearby community members.

The amount of participation your archive chooses is completely up to you and can range from posting a NHD poster in your reading room to actively working with local teachers and students. You choose the amount of time you would like to invest in NHD involvement.

Regardless of the resources you choose to invest, involvement in NHD is a great way to increase the exposure of your repository and to highlight the vital task that archivists all over America perform.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact your state NHD coordinator (NHD Affiliate Coordinators: http://www.nationalhistoryday.org/Coordinators.htm) or consult the National History Day web page at http://www.nationalhistoryday.org/  

Alaska: http://ak.nhd.org/

Idaho: http://www.idahohistory.net/historyday.html

Montana: http://www.nationalhistoryday.org/Montanapage.htm

Oregon: http://www.nationalhistoryday.org/Oregonpage.htm

Washington: http://www.washingtonhistory.org/historyday/sponsors.aspx

NHD resources on the Society of American Archivists can be found at this web page: http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/rao/hday.asp?

Thank you.

Polina E. Ilieva

Reference, Access, and Outreach Section

National History Day Committee Member