Season 1: Nominate a Place or Story

Help us choose the stories that open the Junior History League’s first season.

We’re looking for New Jersey places with stories that deserve a wider audience. They might be historic sites, community organizations, congregations, or neighborhoods- anywhere community history lives, whether it’s held in an archive, painted on a mural, or passed down from one generation to the next.

What a Season 1 episode looks like

Each episode visits one place and tells one story in about 8–12 minutes, through the people who know it best. Each episode includes a facilitator guide and hands-on activities, so after-school programs and camps across New Jersey can bring the story to life with young people.

What we’re looking for

We’ll choose stories that:

  • We’re especially interested in people and communities whose stories are often left out of textbooks. If you’ve ever thought “more people should know about this,” it belongs here.

  • The strongest stories show how the past still shapes the community today, whether through a building that still stands, a tradition that continues, or a change people still feel.

  • Great Season 1 stories give young people something to explore, question, or create. Think about what would make a 10-year-old lean in and ask, “Wait, that happened here?”

  • Item descriptionEvery episode is told through the people who know the story best. We’re looking for someone willing to share it on camera, such as a staff member, docent, elder, or community member.

Season 1 will include stories from across New Jersey: North, Central, and South.

Got a story to tell?

FAQ

  • Yes. Tell us where it happened, and we’ll work with you to find somewhere meaningful to film: a street corner, a library, a mural, or a community space.

  • No. But we’ll always contact the place and the community connected to the story before featuring it. Nothing is filmed without their partnership.

  • Yes, and we encourage it.

  • No. Season 1 places pay nothing.

  • Every nomination stays under consideration for future seasons, and some may be featured in other Junior History League stories.

  • Every featured place reviews its episode before it premieres.