Last Updated on August 3, 2021
Every year National History Day puts together a list of sample topic ideas. TPS-Barat went through that list and selected a subset of those topic ideas to create curated collections highlighting Library of Congress resources. All topic ideas are related to the 2015 NHD theme: Leadership & Legacy in History but the set below focuses on themes related to the 1800s. Links to more NHD follow this resource list.
The Bloodless Revolution of 1800: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the Legacy of a Peaceful Transition of Power
- John Adams: primary source collections & background information
- Thomas Jefferson: primary source collections & background information
- The 1800 election: primary source collections & background information
Tecumseh and the Western Confederacy: Leading the Battle Against Westward Expansion
- Tecumseh & Siege of Fort Meigs: primary source collections & background information
- Primary Source Spotlight: Western Expansion & Manifest Destiny
- Stories of Western Expansion from America’s Library
- Related primary source collections from the time period 1800-1860
Andrew Jackson: The Legacy of the People’s President
- Andrew Jackson: primary source collections & background information
- Battle of New Orleans
- Destruction of the Snake of South Carolina
- Nullification Crisis
- Learning from the Source: Indian Territory Resettlement
Ulysses S. Grant: Leading the Campaign to Take the Mississippi River
- Ulysses S. Grant: primary source collections & background information
- Siege of Vicksburg
- Battle of Cold Harbor
- Grant’s Army Attacks Confederate Lines at Petersburg
Linking Europe, Africa, and Asia: Ferdinand de Lesseps and the Construction of the Suez Canal
- U.S. Historical newspaper coverage of Ferdinand de Lesseps
- U.S. Historical newspaper coverage of the Suez Canal
- Suez Canal mentions in the Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection
- Veteran oral histories of those who served at Suez Canal
- Suez Canal maps
- Suez Canal image set
Otto von Bismarck and the Unification of Germany
- U.S. Historical newspaper coverage of Otto von Bismarck
- U.S. Historical newspaper coverage: German unification
- Books about Bismarck
- Otto von Bismarck image set
Elizabeth Bisland and Nelly Bly: Leading the Way for Female Journalists by Racing Around the World
- “Bly and Bisland” The St. Paul Daily Globe (St. Paul, Minn.), December 16, 1889
- More Bisland & Bly historical newspaper coverage
- Elizabeth Bisland historical newspaper coverage
- Nellie Bly primary source collections & background information
- American Experience: Around the World in 72 Days PBS
Eugene V. Debs’ Leadership of the American Socialist Movement
- Eugene V. Debs image set
- Eugene V. Debs political cartoons
- Eugene Debs historical newspaper coverage
- Historic newspaper coverage of the American Socialist Movement
- Debs and O’Hare in prison published 1919? Literature Dept., Socialist Party
Invoking the Power of the Federal Government: Grover Cleveland and the Pullman Strike of 1894
- Grover Cleveland primary source collections
- Pullman Porters timeline & select newspaper articles 1894-1910
- More Pullman Porters historical newspaper coverage
- Pullman Porters Holiday American Life Histories interview
- Pullman Porters image set
- Pullman Porters sheet music
- Pullman Porters song recordings
- Pullman Strike background information Encyclopedia of Chicago
- Pullman strike 1894 historical newspaper coverage
- Collection connections: the Pullman Strike
- “Report on the Chicago strike of June-July, 1894” by the United States Strike Commission 1894
- The insurrection of June and July 1894, growing out of the Pullman strike at Chicago, Ill. 1894
- The government in the Chicago strike of 1894 by Grover Cleveland 1913
- Pullman strike image set
- American Railway Union historical newspaper coverage
- Also see Eugene V. Debs primary source collections above
More National History Day resources
NHD 2015: Free Primary Source Primer PD
NHD 2015: CMHEC Topic Ideas – Power, Authority & Governance and Reform & Social Justice
NHD 2015: CMHEC Topic Ideas – Economics, Science, Art, Architecture & Design
NHD 2015: CMHEC Topic Ideas – Women and Civil Rights
NHD 2015: Leadership & Legacy Topic Ideas – Early America
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Perhaps some leaders of the Second Industrial Revolution: Edison, Westinghouse, Ford and maybe Tesla. I realize some of these names straddle 1800 and 1900’s but I am certain there are others. What about Victrola and the evolution of the phonograph. Perhaps Edison?