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.

First-year students are welcome to take any 100- or 200-level courses.

Recommended courses for a prospective major

Choose any one of the following 100- or 200-level courses below. HI 104 Early Modern European History (3 credits) HI 126 From Revolution to Civil War (3 credits) HI 151P Revolution & Nationalism (4 credits) HI 203 Rise of Athens (3 credits) HI 223  U.S. Foreign Policy, 1789-present (3 credits) HI 224H The Enlightenment (4 credits) HI 251 Women and Gender in East Asia (4 credits) HI 251 Global History of Modern Ethiopia: Rastafari to Haile Selassie (3 credits) HI 251 History of Coffee (3 credits) HI 258 Fascism (4 credits) HI 266P American Environmental History (4 credits) HI 275 Intro to the History Major (1 cr.)

History Department Site

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