Earthen and shell mounds such as this one on the East Coast once covered the southeast.
Symbols of both political and religious authority, each mound took thousands of hours to build and maintain and today are almost all that is left of the once powerful chiefdoms that thrived throughout the state.
Turtle Mound near New Smyrna 1930s
Sponsored by the Museum of Florida History, the Florida History Fair (FHF) is an annual, statewide activity that enhances the teaching and learning of history at elementary and secondary levels.
Based on a theme selected annually by NHD, students in grades 6 to 12 use primary and secondary sources to research a topic relating to local, national, or world history. The 2015-16 theme is "Exploration, Encounter, Exchange in History."
- After analyzing and interpreting the information they have gathered, students express their findings in a paper, exhibit, performance, documentary, or website.
- They may work individually or in groups of up to five members except in the historical paper category, which is open only to individuals.
- Students' entries are judged in two divisions--junior (grades 6-8) and senior (grades 9-12)--during the various levels of competition.
- First- and second-place county winners in each category and division advance to the state contest in Tallahassee in May.
- First- and second-place state winners in each category and division earn the right to represent Florida at the National History Day competition in College Park, Maryland, in June.
We have books at every reading level that will help you choose and research your topic. We have Encyclopedias and other reference materials. We also offer a wide range of history related databases to help you research your topic in depth and discover primary resources.
What is a database?
Maybe the most important thing to know is that the Jacksonville Public Library research databases are not the Internet. So if your teacher doesn’t want you to use the Internet, you should still be able to use databases.
Databases are tools that your library or the State of Florida has purchased to give you access to a vast amount of information. You access the information through a computer either from home or in the library. Not all databases can be accessed from home. You will need a valid library card to access the databases from home.
What is a primary resource?
A primary resource is a document, speech or other evidence that comes from the time of the historical event. It provides a firsthand view of the event you are studying. Many of the databases we offer will provide you with primary resources.
Click here if you have problems accessing a database from home.
- ABC CLIO Daily Life Through History (In-Library Use) (Remote Access)
- This is a cross-disciplinary resource that supports history, social studies, English, and language students. Moves seamlessly from past to present, providing context for contemporary life and culture. Shows how fascinating and fun it is to explore how others lived and live their lives, and how their lives shaped ours. (Daily Life Through History and Daily Life America databases are now combined.
Multiproduct Home Page
Pop Culture Universe
Daily Life Through History
The African American Experience
The Latino American Experience
The American Indian Experience
- The American Mosaic:
The African American Experience (In-Library Use) (Remote Access)
The Latino American Experience (In-Library Use) (Remote Access)
The American Indian Experience (In-Library Use) (Remote Access)
- Wide-ranging and easy to use, the American Mosaic is the first-ever full-text database to focus on the history and culture of African and Latino Americans. The Mosaic combines the robust, award-winning African American Experience and the groundbreaking Latino American Experience with content that spans the centuries, from the earliest origins of Africans and Latinos in North America to the triumphs and challenges of today.
- Biography in Context delivers outstanding research support with nearly a million biographical entries spanning history and geography. Just like all the new revolutionary In Context products is a curriculum-aligned resource that offers media-rich content in context that's updated daily to meet the needs of today’s user.
- U.S. History in Context delivers comprehensive, contextual, media-rich search results from the most extensive online collection of historical information available today.
- History - World History in Context offers students and researchers unparalleled access to a broad collection of scholarly analysis and award-winning full-text periodicals, reference works and primary documents. World History in Context moves chronologically over 5,000 years from antiquity to the present and geographically around the globe, to ensure that the events, movements and individuals that defined, informed and shaped world history are covered with a sense of balance.
- (InfoTrac en Español)
- Una colección de revistas hispánicas con textos completos. Abarca negocios, salud, tecnología, cultura, temas de actualidad y otras materias.
Student Edition InfoTrac
This database is designed for high school students, with access to a variety of indexed
and full-text magazines, newspapers and reference books for information on current events, the arts,
science, popular culture, health, people, government, history, sports and more.
- This periodical database is designed for students in junior high and middle school, with magazines, newspapers and reference books (most are full-text) for information on current events, the arts, science, popular culture, health, people, government, history, sports and more.
- Opposing Viewpoints in Context is the premier online resource covering today’s hottest social issues, from Offshore Drilling to Climate Change, Health Care to Immigration. Opposing Viewpoints in Context helps students research, analyze and organize a broad variety of data for conducting research, completing writing assignments, preparing for debates, creating presentations and more.
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