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National History Day Topics in ARC

2007 Theme: Triumph & Tragedy

Contents:

1. Sample NHD 2007 Topics
2. Sample ARC Searches
3. Advanced Search Hints
4. Next Steps

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) contains a wealth of primary source materials related to the 2007 National History Day theme, "Triumph & Tragedy." For resources for past years' themes, see National History Day Topics in ARC.

This page provides search hints for NARA's online catalog, the Archival Research Catalog (ARC), to help students and teachers locate descriptions of archival materials:

• available in NARA facilities across the country
  • in the Washington, DC area
  • at Regional Archives nationwide
  • at Presidential Libraries nationwide
• available online as digitized copies -- over 125,000 images including
  • historical documents (handwritten and typescript)
  • photographs
  • maps
  • other graphic materials
  • 101 digitized historical films (via GoogleVideo)

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Sample NHD 2007 Topics

The following list provides a few examples of topics related to this year's theme that have materials described in ARC. For a full list of topics suggested by NHD, see Triumph & Tragedy Sample Topics on the NHD site.

• American Presidents
• San Francisco Earthquake
• Immigration
• Civil War
• Cesar Chavez: Migrant Labor Reform
• Native Americans
• Relocation of Japanese Americans During World War II
• Rosie the Riveter: Women's Roles in World War II
• The Marshall Plan: Economic Reconstruction of Europe
• Wilma Rudolph: Polio Survivor to Olympic Medalist
• NASA: Shuttle Development
• The Triumphant and Tragic Voyage of Christopher Columbus

• At the Jimmy Carter Library and other NARA locations:
  • The Panama Canal Treaties
  • The Iran Hostage Crisis
  • The Equal Rights Amendment
• At NARA's Pacific Region (Laguna Niguel) and other NARA locations:
  (Please contact the staff at Laguna Niguel for many additional topics and information.)
  • The United States vs. Jonathan Tibbitts: Indian Rights Among the Mission Indians, 1920
  • The Indian Reorganization Act: Self-Determination and the New Deal, 1933-1940
  • Teamwork in the Face of Danger: The Point Honda Naval Disaster, 1923
  • Preparing for War: The Naval Training Center, San Diego, California, 1920-1950
  • Controlling the "Limpid Little Stream": Flood Control and the Encasement of the Los Angeles River, 1938-1960
  • Smuggling People: The Chinese Exclusion Acts and the Mexican Border, 1872-1943
• At NARA's Pacific Alaska Region and other NARA locations:
  • Lay Episcopal Missionary William Duncan (1832-1918) of Metlakatla
  • Female Teachers in Alaska: Working for the Bureau of Education and Bureau of Indian Affairs in Rural Alaska
  • Stephen Birch and the Alaska Syndicate: The Kennecott Mine and Mill, 1911-1938
  • The Building of the Alaska Railroad, 1915-1923
  • Matanuska Valley Colony Project, 1935-1942
  • The Purchase of Alaska, 1867
    
    
• National History Day Topics for DC Students (2007 Theme: Triumph & Tragedy)

Sample ARC Searches

There are many excellent research topics, and ARC Topics is a good starting point for your research.

To perform a simple keyword search:

1. Go to http://www.archives.gov
   /research/arc/.
2. Press the Yellow Search button in the upper left corner of this page to go to the Basic search screen.
3. Enter San Francisco Earthquake in the Keywords box.
4. Select the limit results radio button for 2000.
5. (Optional) Select the box marked Descriptions of Archival Materials linked to digital copies.
6. Press the Go button.
7. When hits are returned for your search, view the full result of your hit by selecting the Title link.

Sample NHD Topic	Sample ARC Keyword Search
American Presidents	by president's name, for example: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (or try filtering by Presidential Library under the Locations filter )
Immigration	immigration or immigrants
Civil War	Civil War
Cesar Chavez: Migrant Labor Reform	Cesar Chavez
Native Americans	Native Americans
Relocation of Japanese Americans During World War II	Japanese and relocation
Rosie the Riveter: Women's Roles in World War II	Rosie the Riveter or (women and world war II)
The Marshall Plan: Economic Reconstruction of Europe	Marshall Plan
Wilma Rudolph: Polio Survivor to Olympic Medalist	Wilma Rudolph
NASA: Shuttle Development	(National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA) and shuttle
The Triumphant and Tragic Voyage of Christopher Columbus	Christopher Columbus
The Panama Canal Treaties	Panama Canal and (treaties or treaty)
The Iran Hostage Crisis	(Iran or carter) and (hostage or hostages or rescue mission)
The Equal Rights Amendment	Equal Rights Amendment
The United States vs. Jonathan Tibbitts: Indian Rights Among the Mission Indians, 1920	Jonathan Tibbitts
The Indian Reorganization Act: Self-Determination and the New Deal, 1933-1940	Indian Reorganization Act
Teamwork in the Face of Danger: The Point Honda Naval Disaster, 1923	Point Honda
The Naval Training Center, San Diego, California	Naval Training Center San Diego
Controlling the "Limpid Little Stream": Flood Control and the Encasement of the Los Angeles River, 1938-1960	Los Angeles River
Smuggling People: The Chinese Exclusion Acts and the Mexican Border, 1872-1943	Chinese Exclusion Act and (mexico border or smuggl%)
Lay Episcopal Missionary William Duncan (1832-1918) of Metlakatla	William Duncan and Alaska
Female Teachers in Alaska: Working for the Bureau of Education and Bureau of Indian Affairs in Rural Alaska	(Bureau of Education or Bureau of Indian Affairs) and Alaska
Stephen Birch and the Alaska Syndicate: The Kennecott Mine and Mill, 1911-1938	Kennecott and (mine or mill)
The Building of the Alaska Railroad, 1915-1923	Alaska Railroad
Matanuska Valley Colony Project, 1935-1942	Matanuska Valley
The Purchase of Alaska, 1867	Alaska purchase

Advanced Search Hints

• Nest keywords with parentheses and the words AND, OR, and NOT to make your search more precise. For example:
  • (labor or trade or industrial) and (union or unions)
• Use the wildcard character (%) in ARC to search for all word-ending variations on a keyword simultaneously. For example, the keyword search for revolution% will retrieve any ARC descriptions that include the words revolutionary or revolutions.
• Curly braces { } allow for exact phrase searching. ARC will not recognize a dash (-) in a keyword phrase unless it is between curly braces.
• The ARC Guide for Educators and Students contains more ARC search tips and explanations of how to understand an ARC description.
• For more ARC search tips for digital copies, see our Historical Documents Online topics page. Details on how to view, print, and download digital copies in ARC are available under Illustrated Search Steps and Hints: Viewing Digital Copies of Buffalo Bill Materials
• Do you live outside of the D.C. area? NARA facilities are located nationwide. ARC's Location of Archival Materials filter is helpful in finding ARC items at the closest NARA facility.

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Next Steps

Contact and Visit a NARA Location. If you find archival series, file units, and/or items and you would like to see them in person, contact the NARA unit responsible for those materials. You could arrange to visit the unit in person and conduct research at a NARA facility, or order photocopies.

Questions? Find contact information for general questions about NARA. Contact the ARC staff with questions about how to search in ARC at arc@nara.gov.