History Department

Welcome to the History Department! We house two majors (History and American Studies) as well as four minors (History, American Studies, Asian Studies, and Latin American Studies). To support these majors and minors, we offer a diverse array of courses—everything from classes about ancient Greece to contemporary America. At the same time, the programs in American Studies, Asian Studies, and Latin American Studies are all interdisciplinary, meaning that students can take courses from a variety of other departments beside History, including Economics and Business, English, Fine Arts, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Politics, Sociology, and Theology. All programs of study offered by the History Department are flexible. Although they must meet well defined requirements, students are allowed to take courses in whatever order they choose. This flexibility allows students to double-major, study abroad, pick up additional minors, and fulfill requirements in the Honors program with ease.

The major and minor courses of study we offer provide excellent preparation for entry into the professional and post-graduate world. The History Department stresses reading, thinking, writing, and speaking. We also offer a large number of opportunities for qualified students to participate in faculty-led research projects. In just the last couple of years, these projects have covered a wide array of topics: the experience of Civil War soldiers from New Hampshire, the nature of law and justice under totalitarian regimes, President Jimmy Carter, the story of student activism at Saint Anselm College during the Vietnam War, the use of pesticides in francophone Africa during the middle of the 20th century, biographies of militant suffragists, the changing role of guns in American society and culture, and the intricacies of royal taxation of church property in 16th-century Spain. The department’s course of study provides majors and minors with high-level analytical skills, a capacity to synthesize large amounts of information, expertise in research, and an ability to present logical arguments in a persuasive fashion. The training we offer students also gives them the tools to understand their world so that they can become better citizens of that world.

A number of our graduates teach while others find history-related positions, such as archivists, curators, and museum staffers. But the great majority of our students go on to work in a wide array of other fields, including law, politics, business, public relations/marketing, law enforcement, healthcare, the military, software, filmmaking, social work, journalism, and the hospitality industry. Our alumni are everywhere, doing every kind of work. Recent surveys of our alumni reveal that 100% of recent graduates are either employed, volunteering, or attending graduate school full-time.