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Professors: Richard V. Buel, Jr., Richard Elphick, C. Stewart Gillmor, Nathanael Greene, Oliver W. Holmes, Bruce Masters (Chair), David Morgan, Philip Pomper, Ronald Schatz, Vera Schwarcz, Ann-Louise Shapiro, Richard T. Vann, Ann Wightman

Associate Professors: Patricia Hill, William Johnston, Laurie Nussdorfer, Claire Potter,
D. Gary Shaw

Assistant Professors: Jeffrey Kerr-Ritchie, Cecilia Miller, William Pinch, Rene Romano

History is not a body of facts to be transferred 'temporarily' from the erudition of a professor to the memory of a student. It is a way of understanding the whole of the human condition as it has unfolded in time. Like the other social sciences, it has established methods of investigation and proof, but differs from them in that it encompasses, potentially, every area of human culture from the beginnings of recorded time. Like the other humanities, it uses ordinary language and established modes of telling its stories; but it is constrained by evidence left us from the past. Education in history aims to produce students who can identify and analyze historical problems, interpret difficult bodies of evidence, and write clearly, even eloquently.

Of course you have to know a lot about some area of the past to be a historian at all. The History Department offers the opportunity to acquire this knowledge in six areas (which we call "concentrations"): the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and intellectual history. Majors have to concentrate in one of these areas (by taking five courses, six for the intellectual concentration). Breadth is encouraged by the requirement that everyone take at least two courses outside the concentration and one course in the history of the world before the great transformation wrought by industrialization (a list of applicable courses is appended). More intensive work in short periods or special problems is done in at least three seminars, one of which (History 362) is devoted specifically to introducing the varieties of contemporary historiography and the variety of methods and concepts that historians have worked out to understand the past.

Finally, and most importantly, the department asks everyone to try his/her hand at real historical research and writing. This may take the form of a senior thesis (required to graduate with honors; typically at least 80 pages long, requiring a two-semester research tutorial); a senior essay (roughly half the length, in a one-semester research tutorial); or a research paper submitted as part of the work of the course.

Getting started in history. First-year students have preference in the FYI courses, which the department schedules every year. For 1997-98, they are:

Fall 1997:

HIST 101 History and the Humanities, I (Oliver Holmes)

HIST 111 The Scientific Revolution (C. Stewart Gillmor)

HIST 213 French Film and French Society (Nathanael Greene))

HIST 251 A Psychohistory of the Modern World (Philip Pomper)

Spring 1998:

HIST 102 History and the Humanities, II (Oliver Holmes)

HIST 141 Race and Nation (Claire Potter)

HIST 145 American Society and Culture in the 1950s (Rene Romano)

Like all FYI courses, these require vigorous class participation and are writing-intensive. First-year students also have preference in enrolling in the gateway courses in European history: HIST 201, Medieval Europe; HIST 203, Modern Europe (offered in the fall); and HIST 202 Early Modern Europe (offered in the spring). The gateway course in the European imperialism and the Third World concentration, HIST 105, Slaves, Souls, and Spices, is a course for first-year students; they may take survey courses in the other concentrations.

For sophomores, the department is initiating, on an experimental basis, a group of sophomore seminars. For 1997-98 they will be:

HIST 261 Science: East and West (C. Stewart Gillmor)

HIST 269 Stalin and Stalinism (Philip Pomper)

These will require roughly the same kind of commitment as the FYI courses, but sophomores will be given preference and they will be more oriented toward history as a discipline.

There is, however, no single path to historical knowledge, nor any prerequisite for admission to the history major. Someone who had no history courses at all would have to devote most of her or his last two years to finishing the major (ten courses, not counting research tutorials), but this can be and has been done.

Related and supplementary courses in other disciplines will enlarge and enrich the student's historical understanding. During the first two years of college, students should consider the preparation needed for advanced work: not only the first courses in history and related subjects, but also foreign languages (discussed below), training in theoretical approaches to social and political issues, and perhaps such technical skills of social science as statistics or economic analysis. First- and second-year students are encouraged to discuss their programs with any of the department's major advisers. Students interested in a particular period or area will find historically oriented courses offered in other departments and programs.

Prospective majors may obtain application forms at the department office in 113 PAC. Any history faculty member may serve as an adviser, by agreement with the student, or a new major may choose the adviser designated for his or her field of concentration. The names of the designated advisers can be obtained from the department office. For admission to the history major, a student must satisfy a departmental adviser of her or his ability to maintain at least a B- average in the major program.

Foreign languages. Knowledge of foreign languages is essential to most kinds of historical inquiry and is indispensable to anyone planning graduate study in history. The department strongly advises all history majors to learn at least one foreign language. Students concentrating in European history normally should acquire a reading knowledge of a European language (modern or ancient) by the end of the junior year. Wesleyan sponsors semester-long study programs with language training in several European countries, in Israel, and in Japan and China. There are programs under different auspices for other countries and other continents.

Transfer credit. To be assured of Wesleyan credit and major credit for work done at a non-Wesleyan-sponsored program, whether overseas or in this country, a student must petition for a transfer of credit before going away to take the course(s). Detailed information is available at the History Department office.