Tarheel Junior Historian Association
Junior Historians learn about past natural disasters and how to prepare for them in the future. Photograph ©1999 N.C. Museum of History.
About this resource
- Appropriate grades
- 4–12
- Subjects
- social studies (North Carolina, United States history)
- Provider
- North Carolina Museum of History
Legal
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The mission of the Tar Heel Junior Historians Association is to encourage the study of local and state history by students. In an article written in February 1947, Horace Bailey Carroll, director of the Texas State Historical Association and editor of the Junior Historian magazine, complained of "the almost total lack of emphasis on state history in the schools. Public officials have not been opposed to local history; they have simply been indifferent to it . . . inertia rather than opposition has marked the attitude of the state departments."
Does this sound familiar? The struggle to keep history in the social studies curriculum is still going on today. The Tar Heel Junior Historian Association provides resources to North Carolina's young people to help them better understand and appreciate their place in history. Benefits to student members include a subscription to Tar Heel Junior Historian magazine, membership cards and stickers, and opportunities to participate in history-based workshops. THJHA club advisers receive an Adviser's Supplement to the magazine, which contains lesson plans and lists of additional resources based on the accompanying magazine's theme.
THJHA sponsors a variety of competitions, such as literary and art contests, artifact searches, and a photography contest. The winners of each of these statewide contests are announced at the annual THJHA convention, held each May in Raleigh. The winning projects are displayed in the THJHA Gallery at the North Carolina Museum of History for one year. Many of North Carolina's junior historians have received national recognition for their outstanding achievements, including the American Association for State and Local History's Award of Merit.
THJHA serves more than 8,000 members a year across the state. THJHA clubs can be found in public and private schools, public libraries, home schools, juvenile detention centers, and youth organizations such as Scouts and YMCA. Any group of young people in grades four through twelve with an adult adviser can organize a junior history club. Generally, clubs are affiliated with public or private schools. However, local historical societies, 4-H'ers, Boy Scouts, or Girl Scouts can sponsor a history club. For more information on the Tar Heel Junior Historian Association, call (919) 715-0200, extension 319, or e-mail thjhaclubs@moh.dcr.state.nc.us.
Information provided by Rebecca Lewis.
