The Problem:

Three communities claim that they are the founding place of the first Memorial Day. Each town cites historical records and local primary sources to bolster their assertions. Congress even weighed in on the subject. As a Pennsylvanian, who was born near one of the towns, I believe that Boalsburg is the true place.

Some people ask, "Does it really matter who was the first to honor their soldiers?"

There are many disputes about events in history. A surprising number of historic "facts" are actually: a legend, a myth or an outright fiction.

Examples:

The date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,

Whether George Washington had a son or wore wooden teeth or chopped down a cherry tree, the person who was the first President of the United States,

The site, meaning and events around of the first "official Thanksgiving",

The identity of the person who designed/made the first flag of the United States,

Where Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address,

Who actually invented the first flying machine.

The nationality and/or identities of the first invaders of North America

That the Iraq War was related to the attack of the USA on 9/11.

Even today these mistaken stories continue. An example: crediting Bill Gates with inventing the personal computer and/or the Internet. He did not do either one.

Select a dispute about a historic event or urban myth. How can it be resolved?
What is your decision regarding the argument?

"That's the spirit of it, whether it's officially documented or not," she said.
"We really don't care if we got the credit elsewhere.
It's what we know from what we've been told, handed down from generation to generation."
Anne Riley, community leader, regarding Memorial Day in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania.

Online Resources: I have collected a set of valuable web sites for doing research regarding history. Use them to get started in your research.
You may also use print resources and video based info. If you use a resource that is not listed here, document it in your cited works (bibliography) at the end of your report.
If a link is broken, use your online research skills to find the site/page. Copy the title of the source. Paste it in a web search engine. Search.

Making of America (MoA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction.
The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, science and technology.

Posted 6/2006 by Cynthia J. O'Hora, In the spirit of Thomas Paine, released to public domain