The Cornell University Department of History is an academic department

Academic department

An academic department is a division of a university or school faculty devoted to a particular academic discipline. This article covers United States usage at the university level....

 in the College of Arts and Sciences

Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences is a division of Cornell University. It has been part of the university since its founding, although its name has changed over time. It grants bachelors degrees, and masters and doctorates through affiliation with the Cornell University Graduate School...

 at Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

 that focuses on the study of history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

. Founded in 1868, it is one of Cornell's original departments. Its first faculty included university president Andrew Dickson White

Andrew Dickson White

Andrew Dickson White was a U.S. diplomat, historian, and educator, who was the co-founder of Cornell University.-Family and personal life:...

 and English historian

History of England

The history of England concerns the study of the human past in one of Europe's oldest and most influential national territories. What is now England, a country within the United Kingdom, was inhabited by Neanderthals 230,000 years ago. Continuous human habitation dates to around 12,000 years ago,...

 Goldwin Smith

Goldwin Smith

Goldwin Smith was a British-Canadian historian and journalist.- Early years :He was born at Reading, Berkshire. He was educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford, and after a brilliant undergraduate career he was elected to a fellowship at University College, Oxford...

. In 1881, the department named Moses Coit Tyler

Moses Coit Tyler

Moses Coit Tyler was an American author and professor of American history.-Biography:He was born in Griswold, Connecticut. At an early age he removed with his parents to Detroit, Michigan...

 the first professor of American history

History of the United States

The history of the United States traditionally starts with the Declaration of Independence in the year 1776, although its territory was inhabited by Native Americans since prehistoric times and then by European colonists who followed the voyages of Christopher Columbus starting in 1492. The...

 in the United States. Three of Cornell's twelve presidents have been members of the department: Andrew Dickson White, Charles Kendall Adams, and Hunter R. Rawlings III

Hunter R. Rawlings III

Hunter Ripley Rawlings III is an American classics scholar and academic administrator. He is best known for serving as the 17th President of the University of Iowa from 1982 until 1995 and as the 10th President of Cornell University from 1995 until 2003. He also served as Cornell's interim...

. 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.

History

The department was founded in 1868 by President Andrew Dickson White

Andrew Dickson White

Andrew Dickson White was a U.S. diplomat, historian, and educator, who was the co-founder of Cornell University.-Family and personal life:...

 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

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 as a Professor of History and English Literature

English literature

English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....

 from 1857 to 1863 and as a Lecturer of History from 1863 to 1867, while serving as a New York State Senator

New York State Senate

The New York State Senate is one of two houses in the New York State Legislature and has members each elected to two-year terms. There are no limits on the number of terms one may serve...

. 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

Goldwin Smith

Goldwin Smith was a British-Canadian historian and journalist.- Early years :He was born at Reading, Berkshire. He was educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford, and after a brilliant undergraduate career he was elected to a fellowship at University College, Oxford...

 to leave his comfortable post at Oxford and travel across the Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 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

Cornell University Library

The Cornell University Library is the library system of Cornell University. In 2010 it held 8 million printed volumes in open stacks, 8.5 million microfilms and microfiches, more than of manuscripts, and close to 500,000 other materials, including motion pictures, DVDs, sound recordings, and...

 and made a $2,500 bequest for the purchase of more historical works. From the College of Horace Mann (later known as Antioch College

Antioch College

Antioch College is a private, independent liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was the founder and the flagship institution of the six-campus Antioch University system. Founded in 1852 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1853 with politician and...

), White attracted their Department Chairman William Channing Russel. Russel would later serve as the Department Chairman, Cornell's Vice President and acting President during White's long periods abroad.

In 1881, the department notably hired the first, full-time chair of American history ever. In the spring of 1872, non-resident professor George Washington Greene

George Washington Greene

George Washington Greene was an American historian as well as the grandson of Major-General Nathanael Greene, who served during the American Revolutionary War.-Biography:...

, grandson of American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 General Nathanael Greene

Nathanael Greene

Nathanael Greene was a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. When the war began, Greene was a militia private, the lowest rank possible; he emerged from the war with a reputation as George Washington's most gifted and dependable officer. Many places in the United...

, 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

Moses Coit Tyler

Moses Coit Tyler was an American author and professor of American history.-Biography:He was born in Griswold, Connecticut. At an early age he removed with his parents to Detroit, Michigan...

 from the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 to take Russel's position. At Tyler's request, he exclusively taught American history .

In 1884, the department founded the American Historical Review

American Historical Review

The American Historical Review is the official publication of the American Historical Association, established in 1895 "for the promotion of historical studies, the collection and preservation of historical documents and artifacts, and the dissemination of historical research." It targets readers...

 in a joint effort with Harvard

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

's Department of History in the model of the English Historical Review and the French Revue Historique. Also in 1884, Professors White and Charles Kendall Adams founded the American Historical Association

American Historical Association

The American Historical Association is the oldest and largest society of historians and professors of history in the United States. Founded in 1884, the association promotes historical studies, the teaching of history, and the preservation of and access to historical materials...

 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

Carl L. Becker

Carl Lotus Becker was an American historian.-Life:He was born in Waterloo, Iowa. He studied at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Frederick Jackson Turner was his doctoral advisor there. Becker got his Ph.D. in 1907. He was John Wendell Anderson Professor of History in the Department of History...

.

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. 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

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

 and Herbert Baxter Adams

Herbert Baxter Adams

Herbert Baxter Adams was an American educator and historian.Adams was born to Nathaniel Dickinson Adams and Harriet Adams in Shutesbury, Massachusetts. On his mother's side, he was a descendant of Thomas Hastings who came from the East Anglia region of England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in...

 for the position. Adams notably did not interview the older Moses Coit Tyler

Moses Coit Tyler

Moses Coit Tyler was an American author and professor of American history.-Biography:He was born in Griswold, Connecticut. At an early age he removed with his parents to Detroit, Michigan...

, current department chairman, or Herbert Tuttle

Herbert Tuttle

Herbert Tuttle was an American historian, born at Bennington, Vt. He graduated in 1869 at the University of Vermont. From 1880 to 1881 he was a lecturer on international law at the University of Michigan, and in the latter year was appointed to the chair of politics and international law in...

, an associate professor, to much annoyance of Taylor and the faculty in general. The trustees eventually overrode Adams and installed Tyler as Dean.

On June 18, 1891, the Cornell Board of Trustees

Cornell University Board of Trustees

The Cornell University Board of Trustees is the board of trustees for Cornell University, a private, Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York. The board is vested with "supreme control" over the entire university, in accordance to university bylaws...

 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. 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. 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.

Reputation

The US News and World Report's 2009 rankings of graduate programs places the department 12th overall in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Many alumni and faculty members have won major awards for their work as historians. Alumnus Robert Fogel

Robert Fogel

Robert William Fogel is an American economic historian and scientist, and winner of the 1993 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He is now the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of American Institutions and director of the Center for Population Economics at the...

 was the co-recipient of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Economics

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics, but officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel , is an award for outstanding contributions to the field of economics, generally regarded as one of the...

, in recognition of his quantitative historical analyses. Walter LaFeber

Walter LaFeber

Walter LaFeber was a Marie Underhill Noll Professor of History and a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow in the Department of History at Cornell University...

 won the Bancroft Prize

Bancroft Prize

The Bancroft Prize is awarded each year by the trustees of Columbia University for books about diplomacy or the history of the Americas. It was established in 1948 by a bequest from Frederic Bancroft...

 in 1996 and David Brion Davis

David Brion Davis

David Brion Davis is an American historian and authority on slavery and abolition in the Western world. He is the Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University and founder and Director Emeritus of Yale’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition. He is a...

 won in 1976. LaFeber also won the Beveridge Award

Beveridge Award

The Albert J. Beveridge Award was established in 1939 in memory of United States Senator Beveridge of Indiana, former secretary and longtime member of the American Historical Association , through a gift from his wife, Catherine Beveridge and donations from AHA members from his home state...

 in 1962 and Davis received it in 1975. The French government

Government of France

The government of the French Republic is a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the fifth Republic. The nation declares itself to be an "indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic"...

 awarded Steven Kaplan

Steven Kaplan (historian)

Steven Kaplan is the Goldwin Smith Professor of European History in the Department of History at Cornell University.His primary fields of expertise are French history and the history of food, specifically the history of bread. He earned his A.B. at Princeton University in 1963 and his M.A. in...

 the Ordre national du Mérite

Ordre National du Mérite

The Ordre national du Mérite is an Order of State awarded by the President of the French Republic. It was founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle...

 and named Henry Guerlac

Henry Guerlac

Henry Edward Guerlac was an American historian of science. He taught at Cornell University where he was the Goldwin Smith Professor of History and a member of the Department of History....

 Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. Anthony Grafton

Anthony Grafton

Anthony Grafton is a historian and the current Henry Putnam University Professor at Princeton University. He is also a corresponding fellow of the British Academy and a recipient of the Balzan Prize...

 won the Balzan Prize

Balzan Prize

The International Balzan Prize Foundation awards four annual monetary prizes to people or organisations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the brotherhood of man.-Rewards and assets:Each year the...

.

Numerous people associated with the department have won Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

s. Current faculty member Michael Kammen

Michael Kammen

Michael Kammen is a professor of American cultural history in the Department of History at Cornell University. He was born in 1936 in Rochester, New York, grew up in the Washington, DC area, and was educated at the George Washington University and Harvard University . He has taught at Cornell...

 is the 1973 winner of the prize for History

Pulitzer Prize for History

The Pulitzer Prize for History has been awarded since 1917 for a distinguished book upon the history of the United States. Many history books have also been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography...

. Former professor David Brion Davis

David Brion Davis

David Brion Davis is an American historian and authority on slavery and abolition in the Western world. He is the Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University and founder and Director Emeritus of Yale’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition. He is a...

 won in the category of General Non-Fiction

Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction

The Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction has been awarded since 1962 for a distinguished book of non-fiction by an American author that is not eligible for consideration in another category.-1960s:...

 in 1969. Alumna Sheryl WuDunn

Sheryl WuDunn

Sheryl WuDunn is a Chinese American business executive, author, lecturer, and the first Asian American to win a Pulitzer Prize.A senior banker focusing on growth companies in technology, new media and the emerging markets, WuDunn also works with double bottom line firms, alternative energy issues,...

 won the award for International Reporting

Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting

This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on international affairs, including United Nations correspondence. In its first six years , it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting - International...

 in 1990. Alumnus John Mott

John Mott

John Raleigh Mott was a long-serving leader of the YMCA and the World Student Christian Federation...

 was the co-recipient of the 1946 Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...

 for his work as the head of the YMCA

YMCA

The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...

.

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

Residential college

A residential college is an organisational pattern for a division of a university that places academic activity in a community setting of students and faculty, usually at a residence and with shared meals, the college having a degree of autonomy and a federated relationship with the overall...

 named after Carl L. Becker

Carl L. Becker

Carl Lotus Becker was an American historian.-Life:He was born in Waterloo, Iowa. He studied at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Frederick Jackson Turner was his doctoral advisor there. Becker got his Ph.D. in 1907. He was John Wendell Anderson Professor of History in the Department of History...

 in recognition of his pedagogical contributions to the Cornell community.

Department in Popular Culture

The Onion

The Onion

The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...

, a parody newspaper

News satire

thumb|right|220px|[[The Daily Show with Jon Stewart]] is a news satire program.News satire, also called fake news , is a type of parody presented in a format typical of mainstream journalism, and called a satire because of its content...

, featured an article about fictional History Department professor Wallace Schroeder on September 9, 1997 titled, "Byzantine Empire Will Fall To Turks, Historian Warns". In the The Office, sales

Sales

A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....

man Andy Bernard

Andy Bernard

Andrew "Andy" Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. The character is highly insecure, yet egotistical, constantly mentioning his education at Cornell University...

 minored in history at Cornell.

Alumni

Name	Class year	Degree	Notability	Reference
	1976	Ph.D. American History	Historian, professor
	1982	B.A.	Liberal author and columnist
	1969, 1971	M.A., Ph.D.	Southeast Asia Historian
	1881	B.A.	U.S. historian, diplomat, author, and educator
	1968	Ph.D.	Medieval historian; Academic administrator
	1942	B.A. Medieval History	United States Congressman New York New York New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...  37th District, 1965–73; 35th District, 1973–83; 30th District, 1983–85; President of the World Bank World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty... , 1986–91
	1984	B.A.	Conservative author and political commentator
	1973	B.A.	CEO of Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Banking Group plc is a major British financial institution, formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. As at February 2010, HM Treasury held a 41% shareholding through UK Financial Investments Limited . The Group headquarters is located at 25 Gresham Street in London, with...
	1968	B.A.	Hockey Hall of Fame Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it is both a museum and a hall of fame. It holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup...  goaltender; Member of the Canadian Parliament Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...
	1892	Ph.M.	Influential Austrian School Austrian School The Austrian School of economics is a heterodox school of economic thought. It advocates methodological individualism in interpreting economic developments , the theory that money is non-neutral, the theory that the capital structure of economies consists of heterogeneous goods that have...  economist Economics Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
	1948	B.A.	Nobel Prize Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895... -winning economic historian
	1991	B.A.	Reporter at National Public Radio
	1971, 1974	M.A., Ph.D.	Historian, academic administrator
	1981	B.A.	Congressman, Illinois 10th District, 2001–2010, Senator, Illinois 2010–present.
	1963	B.A.	Former Director of Policy Planning Director of Policy Planning The Director of Policy Planning is the United States Department of State official in charge of the Department's internal think tank, the Policy Planning Staff. The position of Director of Policy Planning has traditionally been held by many members of the U.S. foreign policy establishment...  at the United States Department of State United States Department of State The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries... , professor at Stanford University Stanford University The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
	1905	B.A.	Author of the first book to be awarded the Newbery Medal Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...  for an outstanding contribution to children's literature, historian, educator
	1978	B.A.	Political pundit, host of Real Time with Bill Maher Real Time with Bill Maher Real Time with Bill Maher is a talk show that airs weekly on HBO, hosted by comedian and political satirist Bill Maher. Much like his previous show, Politically Incorrect on ABC , Real Time features a panel of guests that discuss current events in politics and the media...
	1976	B.A.	Co-Founder and President of Bright Horizons Family Solutions
	?	Ph.D.	Eisenhower White House White House The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...  staff and historian
	1888	B.A.	Nobel Peace Prize Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...  recipient (1946), YMCA YMCA The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...  and World Student Christian Federation World Student Christian Federation The World Student Christian Federation is a federation of autonomous national Student Christian Movements forming the youth and student arm of the global ecumenical movement...  leader
	1947	Ph.D.	Historian, professor, author of The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community is a popular work by Canadian historian William H. McNeill...
	1984	Ph.D.	Professor of history at University of Washington University of Washington University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
	1941	B.A.	The most decorated American serviceman, according to the Guinness Book of World Records
	1981	B.A. European History	Journalist at The New York Times The New York Times The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization... , co-winner in 1990 of the Pulitzer Prize Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...  for her coverage on the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989... , winner of the George Polk Award in 1989, and winner of the Overseas Press Club Overseas Press Club The Overseas Press Club of America was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member...  in 1990.
	1966	Ph.D. Southeast Asian History	Historian, professor, authority on Thai

Former faculty

Name	Title(s)	Field of study	Year joined	Year left/retired	Reference
	Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature and History	Hebrew Hebrew literature Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews...  and Chinese Chinese literature Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novels that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...  Literature	1874	1876
	Professor of History, University President	Europe History of Europe History of Europe describes the history of humans inhabiting the European continent since it was first populated in prehistoric times to present, with the first human settlement between 45,000 and 25,000 BC.-Overview:...	1885	1889
	Associate Professor of History	Modern England, Maritime Maritime history Maritime history is the study of human activity at sea. It covers a broad thematic element of history that often uses a global approach, although national and regional histories remain predominant...	1969	?
	John Wendell Anderson Professor of History	The Enlightenment	1917	1941
	Professor of History, Department Chairman (1956–1963)	China History of China Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...	1938, 1946	1944, 1972
'1881	John Stambaugh Professor of History	Middle Ages Middle Ages The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...	1888	1923
	Ernest I. White Professor of History	Slavery History of slavery The history of slavery covers slave systems in historical perspective in which one human being is legally the property of another, can be bought or sold, is not allowed to escape and must work for the owner without any choice involved...	1955	1969
'1892	Instructor, Professor in Political Economy (and Finance)	Political Economy Political economy Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy... , Finance Finance "Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...	1895	1911
	John Stambaugh Professor of History , Department Chairman (1946–56)	United States public land policy	1936	1971
	Instructor in History	Renaissance Renaissance The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...	1974	1975
	Non-resident Professor	United States History of the United States The history of the United States traditionally starts with the Declaration of Independence in the year 1776, although its territory was inhabited by Native Americans since prehistoric times and then by European colonists who followed the voyages of Christopher Columbus starting in 1492. The...	1871	1875
	Goldwin Smith Professor of the History of Science	Science History of science The history of science is the study of the historical development of human understandings of the natural world and the domains of the social sciences....	1946	1977
	Professor of Political Economy and Politics	Political Economy Political economy Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...	1891	1912
	Professor of History	Classics Classics Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...	1960	1969
	Andrew H. and James S. Tisch James S. Tisch James S. Tisch has been the CEO of Loews Corporation since 1999. Tisch graduated from Cornell University and received his MBA at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania....  Distinguished University Professor, Department Chairman	United States foreign policy, Cold War Cold War The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...	1959	2006
	John Stambaugh Professor of History, Department Chairman	Middle Ages Middle Ages The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...	1925	1941
'1986	Professor	Southeast Asia History of Southeast Asia The history of Southeast Asia has been characterized as interaction between regional players and foreign powers. Each country is intertwined with all the others. For instance, the Malay empires of Srivijaya and Malacca covered modern day Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore while the Burmese, Thai,...	1987	1998
	Professor of Modern European History	Modern Europe	1894	1903
	Visiting Assistant Professor	American Civil Rights Movement (1896–1954)	2007	2008
	Professor of English and General Constitutional History	England	1868	1871
	Professor in History	Protestant Reformation Protestant Reformation The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...	1923	1941
	Professor in History	Middle Ages Middle Ages The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...	1931	1941
	Professor of Modern European History	Modern Europe	1890	1894
	Professor of American History, Department Chairman (1881–?1887), White School Dean (1887-?)	United States History of the United States The history of the United States traditionally starts with the Declaration of Independence in the year 1776, although its territory was inhabited by Native Americans since prehistoric times and then by European colonists who followed the voyages of Christopher Columbus starting in 1492. The...	1881	1900
	Professor, Department Chairman (1868–1881), University President	Science History of science The history of science is the study of the historical development of human understandings of the natural world and the domains of the social sciences.... , Warfare Military history Military history is a humanities discipline within the scope of general historical recording of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, their cultures, economies and changing intra and international relationships.... , Religion	1868	1887
	Professor of Political Economy and Statistics, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences The College of Arts and Sciences is a division of Cornell University. It has been part of the university since its founding, although its name has changed over time. It grants bachelors degrees, and masters and doctorates through affiliation with the Cornell University Graduate School...  (1901–1907)	Political Economy Political economy Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy... , Statistics Statistics Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....	1891	1931
'1948	John Stambaugh Professor of the History of Science, Department Chairman	Political Economy Political economy Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy... , Statistics Statistics Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....	1960	?
	Goldwin Smith Professor of Southeast Asian History	Southeast Asia History of Southeast Asia The history of Southeast Asia has been characterized as interaction between regional players and foreign powers. Each country is intertwined with all the others. For instance, the Malay empires of Srivijaya and Malacca covered modern day Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore while the Burmese, Thai,...	1964	1990
'1966	John Stambaugh Professor of History and Asian Studies, Department Chairman	Southeast Asia History of Southeast Asia The history of Southeast Asia has been characterized as interaction between regional players and foreign powers. Each country is intertwined with all the others. For instance, the Malay empires of Srivijaya and Malacca covered modern day Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore while the Burmese, Thai,...	1969	2002

Current faculty

Name	Title	Field of study	Year joined department	Reference
	Hu Shih Hu Shih Hu Shih , born Hu Hung-hsing , was a Chinese philosopher, essayist and diplomat. His courtesy name was Shih-chih . Hu is widely recognized today as a key contributor to Chinese liberalism and language reform in his advocacy for the use of written vernacular Chinese...  Professor of Chinese history	China History of China Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...	1974
	John Stambaugh Professor of History	Sexuality, Germany History of Germany The concept of Germany as a distinct region in central Europe can be traced to Roman commander Julius Caesar, who referred to the unconquered area east of the Rhine as Germania, thus distinguishing it from Gaul , which he had conquered. The victory of the Germanic tribes in the Battle of the...	1977
	Newton C. Farr Professor of American History and Culture	American culture Culture of the United States The Culture of the United States is a Western culture originally influenced by European cultures. It has been developing since long before the United States became a country with its own unique social and cultural characteristics such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, and folklore...	1965
	Goldwin Smith Goldwin Smith Goldwin Smith was a British-Canadian historian and journalist.- Early years :He was born at Reading, Berkshire. He was educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford, and after a brilliant undergraduate career he was elected to a fellowship at University College, Oxford...  Professor of History	France History of France The history of France goes back to the arrival of the earliest human being in what is now France. Members of the genus Homo entered the area hundreds of thousands years ago, while the first modern Homo sapiens, the Cro-Magnons, arrived around 40,000 years ago... , bread	1969
	Professor	Japan History of Japan The history of Japan encompasses the history of the islands of Japan and the Japanese people, spanning the ancient history of the region to the modern history of Japan as a nation state. Following the last ice age, around 12,000 BC, the rich ecosystem of the Japanese Archipelago fostered human...
'61	Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor of Humanistic Studies	Intellectual history Intellectual history Note: this article concerns the discipline of intellectual history, and not its object, the whole span of human thought since the invention of writing. For clarifications about the latter topic, please consult the writings of the intellectual historians listed here and entries on individual...	1969
	Mary Donlon Alger Mary Donlon Alger Mary Donlon Alger was an American lawyer and politician. She was the first woman appointed to a federal judgeship in New York.-Life:...  Professor of American History	United States History of the United States The history of the United States traditionally starts with the Declaration of Independence in the year 1776, although its territory was inhabited by Native Americans since prehistoric times and then by European colonists who followed the voyages of Christopher Columbus starting in 1492. The...	1971
	Marie Underhill Noll Professor of American History, Former Goldwin Smith Goldwin Smith Goldwin Smith was a British-Canadian historian and journalist.- Early years :He was born at Reading, Berkshire. He was educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford, and after a brilliant undergraduate career he was elected to a fellowship at University College, Oxford...  Professor of American History, Former Department Chairman (1977–1980)	United States constitutional law United States constitutional law United States constitutional law is the body of law governing the interpretation and implementation of the United States Constitution.- Introduction :United States constitutional law defines the scope and application of the terms of the Constitution...	1966
	Andrew H. and James S. Tisch James S. Tisch James S. Tisch has been the CEO of Loews Corporation since 1999. Tisch graduated from Cornell University and received his MBA at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania....  Distinguished University Professor, Charles A. Alexander Professor	Science History of science The history of science is the study of the historical development of human understandings of the natural world and the domains of the social sciences....	1969
	Professor of Classics and History, President Emeritus	Classics Classics Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...	1995
	Professor of History and Department Chair	Classics Classics Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...	1979
	Associate Professor	Southeast Asia	1999
	Associate Professor	Gender Gender Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...  and culture Culture Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...  in 17th and 18th century England England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

External links and further reading

• The department homepage
• Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York, a history of the department
• http://cdsun-test.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/newscornell?a=d&d=CDS18871019.2.1.2&cl=&srpos=0&st=1&e=--------20--1-----all A Cornell Daily Sun article from October 19, 1887 regarding the founding of the President White School of History and Political Science.
• Another extensive history of the first 40 years of the department