Need help with your History Day project or even just a place to start? Washington County Library is here to help with the resources below. As always our librarians are ready to help too. You can talk to a librarian in person, fill out this online form, or send an email . Librarians can help you with the information you've already located, give suggestions for finding additional information, and more.

Virtual History Day Hullabaloos

Connect with History Day staff members and mentors to talk about your project through individual conferences, mini-lessons, or drop-in help. Learn more about virtual hullabaloos.

You can also chat with a librarian any time to get help on your History Day research. Librarians can search for digital resources and give advice on how to find what you're looking for in-person or online.

Organizing Your Project

Keep all the information you need for your project in our handy note-taking sheet. It's available to download in full-page or half-page sizes.

Print Resources

R.H. Stafford Library in Woodbury has a collection of newspapers on microfilm: 

• Forest Lake Times, 1995-2008 
• South Washington County Bulletin, 1985-2007
• Woodbury Bulletin, 1998-2008
• Newsweek, 1974-2005
• Time, 1965-2006
• US News & World Report, 1974-2006

All Washington County Library branches have print reference materials including encyclopedias, history books, and more.

Library Databases for Teens

Britannica Online School Edition: Search Encyclopaedia Britannica content for elementary, middle, and high school grade students. Learn more about Britannica Online - School Edition: Tutorial

Explora Teens: Search middle and high school-appropriate magazines, encyclopedia, dictionaries - includes primary source documents, reference books, and multimedia. Learn more: Explora Teens Video Tutorial

Middle Search Plus: Contains full text for more than 140 popular middle school magazines. All full text articles are assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles). Full text is also available for thousands of biographies and historical essays. Also contains primary source documents.

Points of View Reference Center: Find essays that examine multiple sides of controversial topics and current issues. Learn more about Points of View Reference Center: Tutorial

High School (Gale In Context): For high school students, use for both homework and in-depth research assignments to find articles, primary documents, creative works, and multimedia files. Learn more about Student Resources in Context: Resource Guide & Interactive Tutorial

Middle School (Gale In Context): For grade 6-8 students, use to search magazines, newspapers and reference books for information on current events, the arts, science, popular culture, health, and more. Learn more about Research in Context: Resource Guide & Fact Sheet

Additional Database Resources

ArchiveGrid: Search through historical documents, personal papers, and family histories held in archives around the world.

Biography in Context: Search for biographical information about thousands of people, from all time periods including historical figures and today's celebrities. Learn more: Resource Guide

Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub: Search Minnesota newspaper articles from the Minnesota Historical Society archives. Find geographically and culturally diverse newspapers published between 1856 and today.

ProQuest US Newsstream: Find newspaper articles from hundreds of papers from around the world.  

More Resources

National History Day MN - Student Resources (Minnesota State Historical Society)