History (HI)

History as a discipline interrogates the past recorded in human texts, material artefacts, media, oral traditions, and other evidence in order to render its complexity accessible to audiences in the present. More than the mere “study of past events,” History is a public pursuit aimed at the preservation and dissemination of collective memory and the diversity of human experience across times, places, contexts, and communities.

The Skidmore History Department offers classes in the histories of the ancient world, Asia, the British Empire, the Middle East and North Africa, colonial and modern Latin America, the United States, medieval and modern Europe, as well as public history and specialty classes in the international histories of “small things,” oceans, plagues, maps, and medieval technologies.

The history major requires thirty-two credits in history, including HI-275 Introduction to History Major (1 cr.), 4 courses at the 300-level, including one 300-level course designated as a research (R) course.

Recommended courses for a prospective major

Fall 2024 Choose any one of the following 100- or 200-level courses below. HI103 Medieval Europe HI116H Sea Changes: A History of the World’s Oceans HI126 US History: Revolution to Civil War HI146P Survey of the Middle East HI151P Two World Wars HI203 Rise of Athens HI242P China in War and Revolution HI246P American West HI 280P Science/Nature Renaissance

History Department Site

3rd floor, Tisch Learning Center
518-580-5261