Cornell University Department of History

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Cornell University Department of History
Cornell History logo.png
College Arts and Sciences
Department Chair Barry Strauss
Location McGraw Hall, Ithaca, New York, USA
Website http://www.arts.cornell.edu/history/

The Cornell University Department of History is an academic department in the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University that focuses on the study of history. Founded in 1868, it is one of Cornell's original departments. Its first faculty included university president Andrew Dickson White and English historian Goldwin Smith. In 1881, the department named Moses Coit Tyler the first professor of American history in the United States.[1] Three of Cornell's twelve presidents have been members of the department: Andrew Dickson White, Charles Kendall Adams, and Hunter R. Rawlings III. The longest teaching member of the faculty was Frederick Marcham who, upon completing his graduate work at Cornell in 1924, continued lecturing until a month before his death in 1992 – a total of 68 years.[2]

History

Today, some faculty are honored with the title of "The Goldwin Smith Professor" of their field

The department was founded in 1868 by President Andrew Dickson White as one of Cornell's original departments as the Department of History and Political Science. White had already earned a reputation as an up-and-coming historian, having taught at the University of Michigan as a Professor of History and English Literature from 1857 to 1863 and as a Lecturer of History from 1863 to 1867, while serving as a New York State Senator. Employing his reputation as a well-regarded historian in his own right, White attracted other notable historians and upcoming of the day to his department. He convinced Goldwin Smith to leave his comfortable post at Oxford and travel across the Atlantic to rural, up-state New York. When Smith realized just how lacking the new university's library was for historical study, he promptly had his entire 3,400 book collection shipped from England for donation to the Cornell University Library and made a $2,500 bequest for the purchase of more historical works.[1] From the College of Horace Mann (later known as Antioch College), White attracted their Department Chairman William Channing Russel.[3] Russel would later serve as the Department Chairman, Cornell's Vice President and acting President during White's long periods abroad.[3]

In 1881, the department notably hired the first, full-time chair of American history ever.[1] In the spring of 1872, non-resident professor George Washington Greene, grandson of American Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene, offered a series of lectures on American history. Upon Russel's stepping down as the Department Chairman in 1881, the department attracted Moses Coit Tyler from the University of Michigan to take Russel's position. At Tyler's request, he exclusively taught American history .[1]

Executive officers of the American Historical Association at the time of the association's incorporation by Congress, photographed during their annual meeting on December 30, 1889 in Washington, D.C.. Charles Kendall Adams sits left of center and Andrew Dickson White sits on the far right.

In 1884, the department founded the American Historical Review in a joint effort with Harvard's Department of History in the model of the English Historical Review and the French Revue Historique.[4] Also in 1884, Professors White and Charles Kendall Adams founded the American Historical Association with a handful of other leading historians of the day and both would later serve as its president, as well as later department faculty member Carl L. Becker.

In 1887, the Department was renamed the President White School of History and Political Science in honor of Andrew Dickson White's service to the university and the donation of his large personal library.[5] Over the summer, the board of trustees nominated White, who was no longer university president, to be Dean of the school and Honorary Lecturer on History and Political Science, but White declined the offer. Soon thereafter, president Charles Kendall Adams, White's protégé, sought a younger dean and interviewed Woodrow Wilson and Herbert Baxter Adams for the position. Adams notably did not interview the older Moses Coit Tyler, current department chairman, or Herbert Tuttle, an associate professor, to much annoyance of Taylor and the faculty in general. The trustees eventually overrode Adams and installed Tyler as Dean.[6]

On June 18, 1891, the Cornell Board of Trustees resolved that steps be taken to form a "Department of History, Political and Social Science, and General Jurisprudence" and the following year, the faculty of economics and finance and political and social institutions broke off into a single department separate from the White School.[1] As the history and government departments were moved around campus over the next few decades, the White School became a more informal grouping of the two departments.[7] In September 1932, Cornell revived the White School by moving the two disconnected departments to Boardman Hall, allocating space for three classrooms, administrative offices, and graduate student areas.[7]

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Reputation

File:Cornell McGraw Hall March09.jpg
The department's main offices are in McGraw Hall on the Arts Quad

The US News and World Report's 2013 rankings of graduate programs places the department 11th overall in the United States.[8]

Many alumni and faculty members have won major awards for their work as historians. Alumnus Robert Fogel was the co-recipient of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Economics, in recognition of his quantitative historical analyses.[9] Walter LaFeber won the Bancroft Prize in 1996 and David Brion Davis won in 1976.[10] LaFeber also won the Beveridge Award in 1962 and Davis received it in 1975.[11] The French government awarded Steven Kaplan the Ordre national du Mérite and named Henry Guerlac Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. Anthony Grafton won the Balzan Prize.

Numerous people associated with the department have won Pulitzer Prizes. Current faculty member Fredrik Logevall was the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for History.[12] Michael Kammen was the 1973 winner of the prize.[13] Professor David Brion Davis won in the category of General Non-Fiction in 1969.[13] Alumnus David Oshinsky won the award for History in 2006, and alumna Sheryl WuDunn won the award for International Reporting in 1990.[13]

Alumnus John Mott was the co-recipient of the 1946 Nobel Peace Prize for his work as the head of the YMCA.

Two buildings at Cornell's main campus are named in honor of history department professors. White Hall, one of the original three buildings on the Arts Quad, named after Andrew Dickson White, and Becker House, a residential college named after Carl L. Becker in recognition of his pedagogical contributions to the Cornell community.

Department in Popular Culture

The Onion, a parody newspaper, featured an article about fictional History Department professor Wallace Schroeder on September 9, 1997 titled, "Byzantine Empire Will Fall To Turks, Historian Warns".[14] In The Office, salesman Andy Bernard minored in history at Cornell.[15]

Notable people

Faculty

Current faculty

The following is only a partial list.

Name Title Field of study Year joined department Reference
Edward Baptist Associate Professor 19th century United States, slavery, History of Capitalism [16]
Chen Jian Michael J. Zak Chair of History for US China Relations Modern China, Chinese-American relations, Cold War history 2005 [17]
Lawrence Glickman Professor American consumerism 2014 [18]
Isabel V. Hull John Stambaugh Professor of History Germany, political theory, sexuality, international law 1977 [19][20]
J. Victor Koschmann Professor Japan [21]
Mary Beth Norton Mary Donlon Alger Professor of American History United States 1971 [22]
Russell Rickford Assistant Professor African-American history, American social movements 2014 [23]
Aaron Sachs Associate Professor of History American environmental history 2005 [24]
Barry S. Strauss Professor of History and Department Chair Classics 1979 [25]
Eric Tagliacozzo Professor of History Southeast Asia 1999 [26]
Rachel Weil Professor Gender and culture in 17th and 18th century England [27]

Former faculty and faculty emeriti

Name Title(s) Field of study Year joined Year left/retired Reference
Felix Adler Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature and History Hebrew and Chinese Literature 1874 1876 [28]
Charles Kendall Adams Professor of History, University President Europe 1885 1889 [1]
Daniel A. Baugh Associate Professor of History Modern England, Maritime 1969  ? [29]
Carl L. Becker John Wendell Anderson Professor of History The Enlightenment 1917 1941 [30]
Knight Biggerstaff Professor of History, Department Chairman (1956–1963) China 1938, 1946 1944, 1972 [31]
George Lincoln Burr '1881 John Stambaugh Professor of History Middle Ages 1888 1923 [32]
Sherman Cochran Hu Shih Professor of Chinese history China 1974 2012 [33]
David Brion Davis Ernest I. White Professor of History Slavery 1955 1969 [34]
Frank Fetter '1892 Instructor, Professor in Political Economy (and Finance) Political Economy, Finance 1895 1911 [28][35][36]
Paul Wallace Gates John Stambaugh Professor of History, Department Chairman (1946–56) United States public land policy 1936 1971 [37]
Anthony Grafton Instructor in History Renaissance 1974 1975 [38]
George Washington Greene Non-resident Professor United States 1871 1875 [1]
Henry Guerlac Goldwin Smith Professor of the History of Science Science 1946 1977 [39]
D. G. E. Hall Visiting Professor of Southeast Asian History Southeast Asia 1967 1972 [40]
Jeremiah Jenks Professor of Political Economy and Politics Political Economy 1891 1912 [35][36]
Donald Kagan Professor of History Classics 1960 1969 [41]
Michael Kammen Newton C. Farr Professor of American History and Culture American culture 1965  ? [42][43]
Steven Kaplan Goldwin Smith Professor of History France, bread 1969  ? [44][45]
Helmut Koenigsberger Professor Early modern Europe 1966 1973
Dominick LaCapra '61 Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor of Humanistic Studies Intellectual history 1969 2013 [46]
Walter LaFeber Andrew H. and James S. Tisch Distinguished University Professor, Department Chairman United States foreign policy, Cold War 1959 2006 [47]
Max Ludwig Wolfram Laistner John Stambaugh Professor of History, Department Chairman Middle Ages 1925 1941 [32]
Fredrik Logevall John S. Knight Professor of International Studies United States foreign relations 2010 2015 [48]
Richard Polenberg Marie Underhill Noll Professor of American History, Former Goldwin Smith Professor of American History, Former Department Chairman (1977–1980) United States constitutional law 1966  ? [49]
William Provine Andrew H. and James S. Tisch Distinguished University Professor, Charles A. Alexander Professor Science 1969 [50]
Hunter Rawlings Professor of Classics and History, President Emeritus Classics 1995 ? [51]
Takashi Shiraishi '1986 Professor Southeast Asia 1987 1998 [52]
Jason Sokol Visiting Assistant Professor American Civil Rights Movement (1896–1954) 2007 2008 [53]
Goldwin Smith Professor of English and General Constitutional History England 1868 1871 [1]
Preserved Smith Professor in History Protestant Reformation 1923 1941 [28]
H. Morse Stephens Professor of Modern European History Modern Europe 1894 1903 [54]
Carl Stephenson Professor in History Middle Ages 1931 1941 [28]
Brian Tierney Goldwin Smith Professor of Medieval History ; Bowmar Professor of Humanistic Studies Middle Ages 1959  ???? [55]
Herbert Tuttle Professor of Modern European History Modern Europe 1890 1894 [54]
Moses Coit Tyler Professor of American History, Department Chairman (1881–?1887), White School Dean (1887-?) United States 1881 1900 [1][28]
Andrew Dickson White Professor, Department Chairman (1868–1881), University President Science, Warfare, Religion 1868 1887 [1][35]
Walter Francis Willcox Professor of Political Economy and Statistics, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (1901–1907) Political Economy, Statistics 1891 1931 [28][35][36]
L. Pearce Williams '1948 John Stambaugh Professor of the History of Science, Department Chairman Political Economy, Statistics 1960  ? [56]
O. W. Wolters Goldwin Smith Professor of Southeast Asian History Southeast Asia 1964 1990 [57]
David K. Wyatt '1966 John Stambaugh Professor of History and Asian Studies, Department Chairman Southeast Asia 1969 2002 [58]

Alumni

Undergraduate alumni

Note: Does not include those who have become faculty in the department, who are denoted by class year above.

Name Class year Degree Notability Reference
Eric Alterman 1982 B.A. Liberal author and columnist [59]
George Lincoln Burr 1881 B.A. U.S. historian, diplomat, author, and educator [32]
Barber Conable 1942 B.A. Medieval History United States Congressman New York 37th District, 1965–73; 35th District, 1973–83; 30th District, 1983–85; President of the World Bank, 1986–91
Ann Coulter 1984 B.A. Conservative author and political commentator [60]
Eric Daniels 1973 B.A. CEO of Lloyds Banking Group [61]
Ken Dryden 1968 B.A. Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender; Member of the Canadian Parliament [62]
Robert Fogel 1948 B.A. Nobel Prize-winning economic historian [9][28]
David Folkenflik 1991 B.A. Reporter at National Public Radio [63]
Karen Greenberg B.A. Director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School
Mark Kirk 1981 B.A. Congressman, Illinois 10th District, 2001–2010, Senator, Illinois 2010–present. [64]
Stephen D. Krasner 1963 B.A. Former Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State, professor at Stanford University [65]
Hendrik Willem van Loon 1905 B.A. Author of the first book to be awarded the Newbery Medal for an outstanding contribution to children's literature, historian, educator
Bill Maher 1978 B.A. Political pundit, host of Real Time with Bill Maher [66]
Linda A. Mason 1976 B.A. Co-Founder and President of Bright Horizons Family Solutions [67]
John R. Mott 1888 B.A. Nobel Peace Prize recipient (1946), YMCA and World Student Christian Federation leader [68]
Clifford Orwin 1967 B.A. Professor of Jewish political thought at the University of Toronto
David Oshinsky 1965 B.A. Historian, professor, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for History
Kirkpatrick Sale 1958 B.A. Independent scholar and author who has written prolifically about political decentralism, environmentalism, luddism and technology [69]
Joseph M. Schwartz B.A. Political scientist and social theorist; professor at Temple University
Matt Urban 1941 B.A. The most decorated American serviceman, according to the Guinness Book of World Records [70]
Sheryl WuDunn 1981 B.A. European History Journalist at The New York Times, co-winner in 1990 of the Pulitzer Prize for her coverage on the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, winner of the George Polk Award in 1989, and winner of the Overseas Press Club in 1990. [71]

Graduate alumni

Name Class year Degree Notability Reference
Glenn C. Altschuler 1976 Ph.D. American History Historian and administrator at Cornell [72]
Barbara Watson Andaya 1975 Ph.D. Historian of Southeast Asia at the University of Hawaii at Manoa
Leonard Andaya 1969, 1971 Ph.D. Southeast Asia Historian [73]
Stanley Chodorow 1968 Ph.D. Medieval historian; Academic administrator [74]
Frank Fetter 1892 Ph.M. Influential Austrian School economist [28][35]
Federico Finchelstein 2006 Ph.D. Chair of the history department and professor at the New School for Social Research
Douglas Greenberg 1971, 1974 Ph.D. Historian, academic administrator
Charnvit Kasetsiri 1972 Ph.D. Former Rector of Thammasat University
Kevin M. Kruse 2000 Ph.D. Professor of American history at Princeton University, focusing on urban and suburban history and the history of conservatism
Anthony Milner Ph.D. Historian of Southeast Asia at Australian National University
L. Arthur Minnich 1948 Ph.D. Eisenhower White House staff and historian
William Hardy McNeill 1947 Ph.D. Historian, professor, author of The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community [75]
Milton Osborne Ph.D. Australian historian, author, and consultant specializing in Southeast Asia
Joseph Palermo 1998 Ph.D. Historian of U.S. 20th century politics at Sacramento State University
Robert Roswell Palmer 1934 Ph.D. Historian of 18th century France at Princeton and Yale, winner of the Bancroft Prize, President of the American Historical Association
Vicente L. Rafael 1984 Ph.D. Professor of history at University of Washington [76]
Merle Calvin Ricklefs 1973 Ph.D. Former Professor of history at National University of Singapore [77]
James M. Stayer 1964 Ph.D. Historian of early modern Germany at Queen's University [69]
Waziyatawin 2000 Ph.D. Author, activist, research on indigenous peoples at the University of Victoria [78]
David K. Wyatt 1966 Ph.D. Historian, professor, authority on Thai [58]
Peter Zinoman 1996 Ph.D. Professor of Vietnamese History at University of California, Berkeley [79]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ "Frederick Marcham, Cornell Professor, 94", New York Times, December 19, 1992
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "OBITUARY RECORD", New York Times, February 25, 1896
  4. ↑ "CORNELL'S HISTORICAL DEPARTMENT; Part Taken by It in the Founding of a New Magazine.", New York Times, April 14, 1895
  5. ↑ Poole, Murray Edward, A Story Historical of Cornell University: With Biographies of Distinguished Cornellians, The Cayuga Press, Ithaca, NY, 1916
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ The Job (The Office). "Should not be a problem; I minored in history at the Ivy League school that I attended"
  16. ↑ http://history.arts.cornell.edu/faculty-department-baptist.php
  17. ↑ http://history.arts.cornell.edu/faculty-department-chen.php
  18. ↑ http://history.arts.cornell.edu/faculty-department-glickman.php
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 28.4 28.5 28.6 28.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 35.4 Member of the President White School of History and Political Science
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found., page 139
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  55. ↑ http://history.arts.cornell.edu/faculty-emeriti.php
  56. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  57. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  58. ↑ 58.0 58.1 "David K. Wyatt, Authority on Thailand, Is Dead at 69", Douglas Martin, New York Times, November 17, 2006
  59. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  60. ↑ Horowitz, David. "Ann Coulter at Cornell". FrontPageMag.com. May 21, 2001. Retrieved on July 10, 2006.
  61. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  63. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  64. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  65. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  66. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. "I was a history major. I have studied history."
  67. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  68. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  69. ↑ 69.0 69.1 Richard and Mimi Farina "fan site".
  70. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  71. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  72. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  73. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  74. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  75. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
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  78. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links and further reading

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