You Become the Historian!
National History Day in Ohio
Megan Wood, State Coordinator, National History Day in Ohio
Part 1 in a two part series

WHAT IS HISTORY??
•History- The study of the past. The interpretation or
understanding of the past.
•Past- Everything that happened before the present
moment!

What is History Day?
• Research Project
•Pick ANY topic in history
•Relate to annual theme
• Create a project!

What is History Day?
• Historical Paper
• Documentary
• Performance
• Exhibit
• Web Site

What is History Day?
• District History Day- Saturdays in March
• Ohio History Day- April 24, 2010, Columbus, OH
• National History Day- June 13-17, College Park, MD

What is History Day?
• Division:
• Youth- Grades 4-5 (Ohio History Day only!)
• Junior- Grades 6-8
• Senior- Grades 9-12
• Categories:
• Paper
•Individual Documentary, Group Documentary
•Individual Performance, Group Performance
•Individual Exhibit, Group Exhibit

Choosing a Topic
• What are you interested in?
• Are there primary sources available?
• Is it related to the annual theme?
• Is it a narrow topic?
• Think local!

THEME
Innovation in History: Impact and Change
Innovation- something new or different introduced;
OR
the act of innovating; introduction of new things or methods;
OR
A change effected by innovating; a change in customs;
something new, and contrary to established customs,
manners, or rites. Eli Whitney’s patent for the cotton
gin, NARA, www.archives.gov

THEME
Innovation in History: Impact and Change
Impact- the force exerted by a new idea, concept, technology, or
ideology; influence or effect
Change- to make the form, nature, content, future course,
etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it
would be if left alone: to change one's name; to change
one's opinion; to change the course of history.
OR
Early bikini, American Memory,
www.loc.gov/ammem
a transformation or modification; alteration

THEME
SO…..
INNOVATION =
CHANGE
+
IMPACT

THEME
OR…..
IMPACT =
INNOVATION
+
CHANGE

THEME
OR…..
CHANGE=
INNOVATION
+
IMPACT

Brainstorm Topics
What topics can you think of as
innovations?

Activity
Choose one of the topics from Brainstorm
Create the a topic formula using one of the three:
Innovation= Change + Impact
Impact= Innovation + Change
Change= Innovation + Impact

Narrowing Topics: Activity!
Split up into groups
Decide on one of the broad topics
Work together to make it a narrow topic
Pick a spokesperson!

Narrowing Topics: What’s better?
Example 1:
Garrett Augustus Morgan was born on March 4, 1877, in Paris,
Kentucky. In 1895, Morgan moved to Cleveland, Ohio. He took
a position as a sewing-machine repairman. Twelve years later,
Morgan had accumulated enough money to begin his own
sewing machine-repair business. Morgan was always interested
in inventions. During the 1910s and 1920s, Morgan continued
to invent new items. Most of these items were to improve
safety on the streets and in the workplace. He was most famous
for patenting the first traffic signal in the United States. In
1916, he patented his version of the gas mask. Morgan died on
August 27, 1963.

Narrowing Topics: What’s better?
Example 2:
Garrett Morgan was a business man and inventor who created
several workplace innovations that improved safety on the job.
Morgan was most famous for patenting the first traffic signal in
the United States. Morgan witnessed a crash between a car and
a buggy. This event supposedly convinced the inventor to
create the stoplight. His traffic signal was mounted on a T-
shaped pole. It had three different types of signals stop, go, and
stop in all directions, which allowed pedestrians to cross the
street. Morgan patented this device in Canada and Great
Britain as well. He sold his patent to General Electric
Corporation for forty thousand dollars.

Primary and Secondary Sources
•Primary Source- Created at the time of the event or created by
someone who witnessed the event
•Secondary Source- Created after the time of the event using
primary sources

YOU are the topic!
It is 2109, a historian is going to write a
biography about your life. Write down anything
the historian could use to find information about
you! What sources would the historian use?

Historic Places as sources