National History Day 2014 Theme: Rights and Responsibilities in History

The following are a few potential topics for National History Day projects based on Montana's state or local history.  Click on any topic to find a brief description linking it to the theme and a list of a few primary and secondary sources related to the topic and interesting relevant resources available on the internet.

Please note that these lists are just to get you started. Some of these topics will need to be further narrowed down to make good history day projects. In addition, as you research, we are certain you will find many other sources. For example, newspaper articles are rarely listed in these bibliographies--and many of these topics received on-going newspaper coverage. The Montana Historical Society will interlibrary loan microfilm reels of its extensive newspaper collection. Find out more about the Montana Historical Society's collection of newspapers and its interlibrary loan policy here. The Society is also actively digitizing parts of its newspaper collection. Information on its newspaper digitization project is available here.

Of course, there are many other relevant Montana history topics as well: the American Indian Movement, the Disability Rights movement, and Title IX are just three that come to mind. Perhaps some of these events played out in your own backyard. These might make the best topics of all. 

Of Special Note for 2013-2014

Archival collections at the MHS Research Center will be unavailable from October 15, 2013 until April 15, 2014 to allow improvement to our collections storage facility. Other Research Center collections, such as books, newspapers and photographs, will continue to be accessible during this time. The Research Center will be open to the public during its standard operating hours. Please contact us for additional information.

Suggested Topics 

Environmental History

          Sustained Yield Forestry

Women's History

            Montana Women's Suffrage Movement

            Ella Knowles: Fight to Become Montana's First Female Lawyer  

Civil Rights/Social History

           Immigrant Rights and the Chinese Experience

           "Not In Our Town": Combating Hate Crimes in Billings

           Prohibition

           1909 Missoula Free Speech Fight  

Economic/Labor History

          Non-Partisan League: Revolution, Reaction, Reform in Eastern Montana 

          Hogan's Army

Montana Labor Unions

Populists, Progressives, and the Eight-hour Day

Political History

1972 Constitutional Convention

Mike Mansfield

Indian History 

Chief Plenty Coups of the Crow 

           Salish Attempts to Retain the Bitterroot

War and Resistance

           Louis Riel: Metis Revolutionary

Montana Sedition Act-Montana Council of Defense (World War I)

Montana's World War II Conscientious Objector Camps