Ticket stubs & COVID tests: 2020s Big Red life, in scrapbooks
As a final project, a popular course on Cornell history lets students create miniature time capsules for future generations.
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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.
Get to know history at Cornell
Department of History News
From halting cancer to protecting soldiers, Big Red research is at risk
A look at some projects imperiled by federal funding cuts—and how you can support your alma mater through ‘Cornell Matters’
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Global perspectives reframe timeline and scope of WWII 
This summer marks the 80th anniversary of the “official” end of World War II, but a new book co-edited by Ruth Lawlor, assistant professor of history, extends the war’s timeline back to 1931 and into the mid-1950s.
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Research at risk: Records of enslaved people seeking freedom
A research project collecting records of freedom-seeking enslaved people in the pre-Civil War U.S. came to a halt when researchers received a stop-work order from the National Endowment for the Humanities in early May.
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Military use in Los Angeles coming right up to Insurrection Act
History professor David Silbey points out restrictions on and risks of using active-duty military to respond to protests.
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From posters to precedent, humanities scholars showcase their research
Projects spanned topics from Confederate cemeteries to Korean textiles.
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Norton honored with top alumni award from Harvard
The Centennial Medal recognizes alumni who have made fundamental and lasting contributions to knowledge, their disciplines, their colleagues and society
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Outstanding faculty win 2025 teaching and advising awards
Among those being recognized for exceptional teaching and mentorship this year are faculty members Begüm Adalet, Claudia Verhoeven, and Marcelo Aguiar.
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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.