High School History Day

Unsolved Histories: What you missed in previous High School History Days

Tuesday, October 31, 2023
10am-2pm

History is never really “solved” – we can always discuss it, argue about it, reinterpret it, and find new ways to make sense of it. Just when you assume it’s been figured out, along comes some new information that forces you to rethink everything. The sessions will revisit what you thought you knew about the past, and will introduce you to new characters and events. And they will encourage you to become a detective and try your hand at solving some histories!

Entire classes (grades 10-12) and individual registrants welcomed!

Registration is closed.  If you have any questions please contact history-inquiries@uwo.ca

Choose from a variety of lecture and tutorials

Lectures - Led by History Department Professors

Hello from Africa
Wouldn't it be fun to study an aspect of the home continent of our human species? Wouldn't it be cool to know a little more about that continent, its peoples, landscapes, and ecologies - beyond what you saw in The Lion King?
Ruramisai Charumbira

Her Story is History!
Women have played a crucial role in every aspect of history! So why have they been ignored historically? And how do we make sure they get the attention they deserve? This lecture will outline the main goals of women’s history and why it’s important to study women's lives.
Monda Halpern

History for Time Travelers
Imagine you could travel back in time: to medieval Europe, or the Aztec Empire before Columbus, or the last days of the dinosaurs. What would you see? What would you learn? What would you smell? Historians investigate many complex questions about the past, but another, simpler question lurks in our minds: what was it like?
Rob MacDougall

“Horrific Bloodbath in Murder House”: Mass Murderers in History
There have always been mass murderers, but society’s view of them is different now than it was in the past. We look at some of the most loathsome criminals in history, and consider what their crimes – and their reputations – tell us about human societies.
Jonathan F. Vance

Not So Noble Nobel Peace Prize Winners
You might think that peace activists would be universally celebrated. In fact, many have been denounced for unpeaceful acts and beliefs. What does the selection of controversial peace prize laureates tell us about the Nobel Peace Prize and peace?
Francine McKenzie

The Story of Tsar Nicholas II and the End of the Russian Tsardom
We all know Rasputin, right? The Mad Monk didn’t cause the end of Tsardom, right?! Well, this lecture will explore what led to the end of the Romanov Dynasty, brought multiple revolutions (yes, more than one) in Russia, and left all of us (okay, maybe most of us?) singing Boney M.
Oleksa Drachewych

Vikings in Canada?
Come explore the strange, wacky, and even valid claims of the Norse presence in North America.
Mike Dove

What We Can Learn from a Cemetery
The Ingersoll Rural Cemetery has an unmarked section called the Potter's Field where 375 community members are buried. Find out how such a site can teach us about slavery, homelessness, immigration, disease, and segregation, and how we can use these lessons to encourage change in our communities.
Cody Groat

Where are the Profits?: A History of Corporate Money-making from Japan to Germany to Britain to the USA
A stroll through different corporate ideas and forms for generating profits, with stops along the way to look at some successes – and some failures too.
Peter Krats

Tutorials - Led by History Department Graduate Students

An ant, a grasshopper, a business owner, and a fisherman walk into a bar... : Myths, Values, and the Economy
How do the stories we tell reflect and teach us about the economic systems into which we are born? Are these stories helpful, harmful or neutral? Are the economic systems “natural” and inevitable, or manufactured and changeable?
Carla Nelson-Boyce

Arthur of Camelot: The Once and Future King?
History holds many clues that can help us trace the legend of King Arthur and his court at Camelot. Join us as we use the historian’s tools for interpreting names, places, and stories to explore how the legend came to be, and to separate man from myth.
Zaynab Jivraj

Atrocities in Wartime
During the First World War, German forces sank hospital ships and bombed hospitals, all in violation of international law. By examining conflicting accounts, we see how these incidents were used as propaganda by both sides and how atrocity stories are both remembered and forgotten.
Kristen Jeanveau

Does East Germany Exist?
Different historical and processes and regional developments in Germany have led to different social and political outcomes. By linking those historical processes to current events, we can see History’s ability to interpret, and possibly explain, the world around us.
Shaun Hislop

Explorer, commando, surfer, actor, archer, journalist: The Most Interesting Man in the World?
“Mad Jack” Churchill was one of the great characters of the 20th century. Meet the man who carried a broadsword and longbow into the Second World War and later escaped from a Nazi concentration camp.
Thomas Zurowski

The Great (Emu) War
Yes, you read that correctly. In 1932, the Australian army marched off to war against emus, and the outcome might just surprise you...
Hazel Scott Pankratz

Knowledge in Ashes: The Great Library of Alexandria
What would happen if a big chunk of the world’s knowledge disappeared overnight? That’s what happened when the Great Library of Alexandria burned in 48BCE – or did it? We look at what might have been in it, what might have been lost, and why the burning has become such a symbolic event.
Leah Kottwitz

The London Asylum for the Insane: Getting In and Getting Out
Learn about nineteenth-century mental health care in London, Ontario, through the eyes of patients living in what was once one of Canada’s most modern and progressive asylums.
Paige Milner

Unsolved Histories Trivia Challenge
Come test your knowledge of history, and discover some unsolved mysteries in the process. Maybe you’ll even take home the grand prize!
Rose Giles

Vampires in New England?
A tale of vampires, the dead, and disease in New England – but the New England of not very long ago.
Charan Mandur

What Happened to the Avro Arrow?
Canada’s homegrown nuclear-weapon interceptor aircraft: a pinnacle of aviation engineering, or a pointless sinkhole for tax dollars? Or both?
Wesley Bengtson

Who Was Jack the Ripper?
He is probably history’s most famous murderer – but will we ever discover who he really was? Catch up on the latest theories, as well as the old ones that refuse to go away.
Ryan McLachlan

Why Do People Smuggle Drugs?: A Brief History of the Opium Trade
In the late 18th century, the British East India Company developed a system of opium production and export as a result of a trade imbalance between China and Britain. We will see how, over time, the opium trade was regulated, and why smuggling persists to this day.
Brian Gibb

The World is Broken … Can We Fix It?
Join a group of our best International Relations students and help them to trouble-shoot the international system – a hands-on workshop in making the world a better place.
Cecilia Cai, President, Association of International Relations, Undergraduate Club

Schedule

The day will begin at 10am with a general introduction.  After that, students and teachers will break into their sessions.  A free lunch will be provided, as well as drinks and snacks throughout the day.  Sessions will end at 1:45 to allow teachers and students to regroup and board buses between 1:45-2pm. 

Introduction: 10:00am-10:30am

Session A: 10:40am-11:20am

Session B/Lunch group 1: 11:30am-12:10pm

Session C/Lunch group 2: 12:20pm-1:00pm

Multimedia Interactive Historical Extravaganza: 1:10pm-1:40pm

Transfer to buses: 1:45-2pm

If you have any questions, please email history-inquiries@uwo.ca.