Project ideas + resources from ActiveHistory.ca

ActiveHistory.ca is a website that connects the work of historians with the public, policy makers and the media. Lucky for us, it also offers great suggestions for Heritage Fair project ideas and resources.

"We define active history variously as history that listens and is responsive; history that will make a tangible difference in people’s lives; history that makes an intervention and is transformative to both practitioners and communities. We seek a practice of history that emphasizes collegiality, builds community among active historians and other members of communities, and recognizes the public responsibilities of the historian."

For example, the most recent post is titled "Remembering the War of 1914". A few of the questions the author raises would make fascinating Heritage Fair projects:

• Was it a wasteful and fruitless effort that left millions dead and resolved little? 
• Or was it “a forgotten victory” and a necessary effort to halt German aggression? 
• Did anyone win the war or were there simply different degrees of losers? 
• Was all the death necessary or did the aristocratic generals carelessly throw away hundreds of thousands of lives in their battles of attrition? 
• Was the victory at Vimy Ridge really the ultimate birth of our nation (nudging out 1812 and 1867)?

These topics are particularly useful for students who hope to win the new War of 1812 and More Award.