My senior paper was The Responsibility of Remembrance: The Discarded Rights and Legacy of Annie Hamilton Brown." I am honored to have won the Untold Stories in History prize at Nationals.
Thank you for the Historical League's generous sponsorship for NHDAZ. I sincerely appreciate the scholarship; attending both NHDAZ and the National NHD competition were incredible experiences! I enjoyed connecting with like-minded students who share a passion for history. I am delighted to have attended this year. I am sincerely grateful for the opportunity to participate in the NHD programs.
The most rewarding part of competing in National History Day was conducting primary-source research at the National Archives, writing about a lost figure in history, and bringing an untold story to light.The most stressful part of NHD for me was keeping within the word count of the paper while meeting the key objectives of the paper rubric.
Over the course of participating in NHD, from Arizona to the National Level, I learned how important studying history is as a young scholar. It was amazing to find a community who shares my passion for historical research and exploring history.
Participating in NHD has been a wonderful experience that has changed my life. First-person, primary research was essential to my work. I first discovered Annie Hamilton Brown while transcribing documents for the National Archives as a Citizen Archivist. In my research, I quickly found that I was limited by what I could discover online--so I traveled across the country to the East Coast to conduct primary research in Massachusetts (where Annie Hamilton Brown lived) and Maryland. To clarify, I researched at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland; traveled to the Massachusetts Historical Society, where the Massachusetts Audubon records are held; went to Stoneham, Massachusetts, where Annie lived, and visited her gravesite; and read Annie's original will at the Judicial Archives of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. I discovered a passion for conducting historical research through this passion project. I am delighted that I was able to share Annie's untold story with a wider audience, and am honored to have represented Arizona at the national level. My work for Annie Hamilton Brown continues. It is my goal to publish Annie's untold story and have her legacy recognized today as a prominent conservationist. She was an incredible woman who deserves to be remembered today. I am sincerely grateful for Arizona's NHD program and the opportunity to participate.
Thank you,
Jessica Finnie
