About Us

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.

Spotlight on History Alumni

Photograph David Langbert courtesy of National Archives

History Alum and Diplomatic Records Archivist Receives Foreign Policy Prize

Mon, 11/08/2021 - 12:00

History Degree Shines Light on Alumna's Real Estate Business Career

Mon, 02/03/2020 - 12:00

A Career in Corporate Finance ~ How My History Degree Helped Me Get There

Thu, 05/24/2018 - 12:00

Popular Destinations

Department Contacts and Administration Cornell Historical Society Public History Initiative

History Events

Feb 18

Wednesday 04:00 PM

Book Talk - ILR Global Labor and Work Workshop - From Popular Front to Cold War: The Interracial Left and the International Workers Order, 1930–1954

Ives Hall Doherty Lounge, 281 Faculty Wing

Feb 19

Thursday 12:00 PM

The Politics of Sexual Violence at South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Uris Hall G08

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

How Migrants Made Markets: Shenzhen and China's Reform and Opening

White Hall 106

Mar 19

Thursday 05:00 PM

Claude McKay: The Wanderings of a Rebellious Poet

See all events

History News

Three college campus buildings of various architectural types receed into the distance under a grey sky and a bare branch

College of Arts and Sciences announces 2026 Klarman Fellows

The 12 early-career scholars will pursue research in the sciences, social sciences and humanities.

Derek Chang reads trivia questions about Spring semester courses.

History Department Hosts Lively Open House and Trivia Night

Colorful interior of a chapel with a vaulted ceiling; people sit in the pews facing a person speaking at the front

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.

Sanae Takaichi in dark suit jacket sits at a table with microphones between two men, and more men sitting in the room behind her

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.”

Hill with dozens of colorful houses on it, backed by a bleak landscape with snow

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.

In Bukovina, European empires built new worlds out of inherited materials

The region never fit easily among its neighbors, as regimes including the Habsburg Empire and the Soviet Union tried to remake it in their image.

‘Songs In Flight,’ inspired by Cornell-based project, earns Grammy nod

Based on poems by A&S alumna Tsitsi Ella Jaji, M.A. ’06, Ph.D. ’08, the songs by Shawn Okpebholo bring to life individual stories preserved by the Cornell-based Freedom on the Move project.

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