Promotional Button

Pin front

Name/Title

Promotional Button

Entry/Object ID

2000.51.1

Description

Round, green button with the orange inscription, "Vermont History Day" at the top, an image of a leaping catamount in the center, and the date "2000" at the bottom.

Context

Used by students for pin trading with other students at the national History Day contest in June, 2000, held at the University Of Maryland, College Park. History of History Day from https://www.nhd.org/nhd-origins On May 11, 1974, 127 students from middle and high schools in the greater Cleveland area gathered on the campus of Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio, to compete in a contest called History Day. The idea was the brainchild of David Van Tassel, a professor of history at CWRU, “to counter the devaluation of history as a field of study.” Van Tassel had witnessed a generation of young people in the 1960s caught up in events during one of the most turbulent decades in American history, who felt that past events were irrelevant to their lives and wanted to help students recognize history's impact. He was especially disturbed by the rote style of learning used in most history classrooms and “wanted to do something to reinvigorate the teaching and learning of history.” ...The growth of the program during those early years was rapid. As history professors and public historians learned about the program, they too wanted to get involved. Recognizing how quickly things were moving, Van Tassel applied to the State of Ohio to incorporate a non-profit organization to run and expand History Day and hired Lois Scharf as its first director. In 1979, the theme was Migrations in History, and like the theme, History Day was moving across the country, almost on its own. Only one year later, in 1980, the first national contest was held with 19 states participating."

Acquisition

Accession

2000.51

Acquisition Method

Collected by Staff

Made/Created

Date made

2000

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Button, Promotional

Nomenclature Class

Advertising Media

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Overall

Diameter

2 in

Material

Aluminum, Plastic

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Vermont Historical Society

Related Events

Event

Vermont History Day