Seminars and Field Trips

National History Day

Interested in History Day? Check out a new resource for students from the Ohio Historical Society! The History Day Expert Blog is full of tips for topic selection, project creation, and research.

The National Atlas

The National Atlas (at nationalatlas.gov) was produced by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The site provides maps which seek to help users understand the United States and its place in the world. Map topics include agriculture, biology, boundaries, climate, environment, geology, government, history, cartography, people, transportation, and water.

The site offers several maps ready for printing which emphasize historical content. The available topics include Native American reservations, presidential elections between 1789 and 2000, territorial acquisition from 1783 through present day, and others. A selection of wall maps are presented for purchase, including the presidential election map.

Narratives of Slavery: Analyzing Primary Sources

In this 5 minute video teachinghistory.org  (you can also read a transcript), historian Richard Follett analyzes two narratives of slavery: an investigative report written by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1853 for the New York Times and Solomon Northrup's book Twelve Years A Slave. He discusses each document separately and then compares their very different perspectives on slavery in Louisiana's sugar growing parishes. Follett models several historical thinking skills, including: close reading;attention to key source information, including who wrote each account, when, and for what purpose; and exploring how to make sense of multiple perspectives and conflicting accounts. Note that the Primary Source Activity Assignment related to the The Slave Trade seminar is on organized on the theme, Point of View.