NRB Press release
December 3, 2004
Thirty-Two Cultural Partners Join to Bring National History Day to Philadelphia School Children
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Is it possible that the city where the American democracy began did not support its school children participation in the leading national program for history and social studies?
That was the case until this past spring, when thirty-two cultural partners, including the Philadelphia Consortium of Special Collections Libraries, the Philadelphia Department of Records, Independence Hall Association and the Museum Council of Philadelphia, joined together to bring the highly regarded National History Day program back to Philadelphia. "Philadelphia has not held a National History Day event since the mid-1980's. In order for our children to participate, they had to seek a place in one of the other regional programs in the state", says Kate Wilson, Director of Education at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. National History Day had more than 700,000 students participating nationwide in 2004. In Pittsburgh over 400 students are participating in National History Day this year.
The cultural partnership brings together history museums, libraries, archives, historic sites, heritage institutions, and related organizations to work collaboratively with the broader community to encourage history centered education and use of local historical assets for such education through National History Day. The National Constitution Center will be the site of the regional competition on April 21, 2005.
National History Day is exciting and flexible and it supports the development of life-long intellectual skills. The methods of History Day can be used by teachers in English or media skills classes as well as the social studies. The key is imagination, and the skills used in developing a History Day entry are valuable for any area of study. It encourages young people to explore a historical subject related to an annual theme. It provides the ideal format to meet the inquiry component of the Pennsylvania state graduation standards.
"We are delighted to be part of this collaborative", says Stephanie McKissic, Director of Education at the National Constitution Center. "The Center has supported both the state and national events and sees this local collaboration as an important way to link regional history collections and resources to our efforts."
The collaborative is also targeting its efforts to engage more minority students in National History Day program. "We have a unique opportunity to broaden participation in the national program through our efforts in Philadelphia," says Diane Turner, Curator at the African American History Museum. "The Atwater Kent Museum sees this effort as an excellent way to extend our support to school children in underserved communities throughout Philadelphia," says Executive Director Viki Sand.
The 2005 theme is "Communication In History: The Key To Understanding." Students make history come alive as their research leads to imaginative exhibits, original performances, media presentations (web projects and documentaries) and papers in junior and senior divisions.
The program demonstrates that students learn history when they do history. The goal is to promote the study of history by engaging students and teachers in the excitement of historical inquiry and creative presentation. National History Day reinforces classroom teaching by rewarding students of all abilities in grades 6 through 12 for their scholarship, creativity, individual initiative and cooperative learning. Their work is evaluated at different stages by historians, educators and professionals in related fields. Students participate in the Philadelphia History Day contest at which some are selected to advance to the statewide National History Day in May 11-12, 2005 at Penn State's University Park campus. Top entries in each category in the Pennsylvania National History Day competition are eligible to participate in the National History Day contest in June, held at the University of Maryland.
"National History Day Philly! also links local heritage tourism to desired education outcomes ---- meeting national, state and local education standards. It also opens up a new venue for promoting our region's historical assets and provides needed support to the partnering institutions' effort to make their offerings more accessible to an underserved audience", says V. Chapman-Smith, National Archives Regional Administrator and regional Coordinator for the Philadelphia NHD program. "The program defines a beneficial reason to parents, grandparents, community leaders, teachers and students to take advantage of Philadelphia's extraordinary history resources."
To learn more about National History Day Philly! program go to: www.ushistory.org/nhdphilly or contact National History Day Philly! Coordinator, c/o National Archives Mid Atlantic Branch, 900 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107.
For more information about this press release, contact: V. Chapman-Smith, Regional Administrator, National Archives Mid Atlantic, at 215.606.0102, or v.chapman-smith@nara.gov.
