LaFeber-Silbey Lecture considers “A World Without Law?”
Scholar of law Philippe Sands will give the LaFeber-Silbey Lecture in History on March 5, considering "Lessons from History and Literature, from Nuremberg to Pinochet and Beyond.”
The Department of History thrives on its close relationship with many other departments, centers and area studies programs in the humanities and social sciences at Cornell. The faculty includes more than a dozen prize-winning authors as well as winners of Cornell’s prestigious teaching and advising awards.
History Events
Feb
19
Thursday
12:00 PM
Feb
27
Friday
12:20 PM
European History Colloquium - Victoria Frede
Goldwin Smith Hall
283
Mar
05
Thursday
04:45 PM
LaFeber-Silbey Lecture - Philippe Sands
Goldwin Smith Hall
G64
Mar
18
Wednesday
10:10 AM
Mar
19
Thursday
05:00 PM
Claude McKay: The Wanderings of a Rebellious Poet
Goldwin Smith Hall
HEC Auditorium, room 132
Apr
09
Thursday
12:00 PM
Apr
09
Thursday
04:30 PM
European History Colloquium - Dan Edelstein
Mary Ann Wood
B21
Get to know history at Cornell
Department of History News
How WWII changed ideas of racial purity in Japan
In “Japan Reborn: Race and Eugenics from Empire to Cold War,” Kristin Roebuck explores what happened to “mixed blood” children born to Japanese women and foreign soldiers from the peak of Japan’s imperial expansion in the 1930s through the empire’s collapse in 1945 and beyond,
College of Arts and Sciences announces 2026 Klarman Fellows
The 12 early-career scholars will pursue research in the sciences, social sciences and humanities.
History Department Hosts Lively Open House and Trivia Night
History Department Hosts Lively Open House and Trivia Night
In Praise of Sage Chapel, East Hill’s beloved house of worship
Built in an era when the University was under fire for being nonsectarian, it offers respite from a bustling campus.
Tensions with China give Japanese PM an opening for snap elections
Prof. Kristin Roebuck comments on the plans of Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to dissolve parliament next week and call a snap election.
Women in exile shaped South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement
Women played a major role in debates surrounding the fight against apartheid in South Africa, Rachel Sandwell writes in a new book, “National Liberation and the Political Life of Exile: Sex, Gender, and Nation in the Struggle against Apartheid.”
Europe has little leverage to push back if Trump moves to take Greenland
A Cornell historian and military expert doubts a NATO military response to the US annexation of Greenland would not happen, Despite tough talk from European leaders.
Undergraduate Study
History is valuable as preparation for graduate, professional, or law school and for any career that requires critical thinking and good writing; the reputation of the faculty for scholarship, teaching, and advising; and most of all, the intrinsic interest of the discipline.
Graduate Program
Cornell's Department of History has a topnotch faculty covering a wide range time periods, geographic regions and methodologies. As a student in our program, you will also be able to work with members of the wider Graduate Field of History, which includes scholars whose main appointment is in other colleges and programs at Cornell but who are able to supervise dissertations of Ph.D. students in History.
Connections through history
Public History Initiative
The Cornell Public History Initiative (CPHI) works to stimulate and deepen dialogue among undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, and their wider communities about the sedimented histories that shape our contemporary world.