Alumni Authors Write History’s Second Draft
Alumni authors Alex Nyerges, BA ’79, MA ’82, and Lindsay Chervinsky, BA ’10, bring history to life.
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Examining the Past to
Understand the Future
Studying history through today's lens
Who We Are
With an unparalleled location in the nation's capital, award-winning faculty and access to some of the most important research repositories in the world, the GW Department of History offers an ideal platform from which to explore our past. Undergraduate and graduate students are exposed to a diversity of topics, from the Africa diaspora to the Cold War, from imperialism to urbanization, from the founding of Islam to Jewish history, from race relations to labor, law and politics. Students graduate with the knowledge and analytical tools necessary for success in a wide range of careers.
Join the Graduate Programs Virtual Open House: October 20–30
Registration is now open for GW's 2025 Columbian College of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) Graduate Programs Open House! The virtual event features program-specific information sessions and opportunities to interact with current graduate students, faculty and our admissions team. Attendees will receive an application fee waiver.
The History Department will host several virtual information sessions for prospective graduate students:
- History (MA, PhD): October 22
- Museums, History and Culture (MA): October 28
Where We Are
The Washington, D.C., area offers a front-row seat to history. Students are immersed in their surroundings through trips to museums, battlefields and historical sites including the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Jamestown Settlement, the Gettysburg Battlefield, the Society of the Cincinnati and George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate.
Through the department's collaborative relationships with institutions throughout the region, students also have extraordinary access to historical documents at the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the National Security Archive and the Smithsonian Institution.
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Upcoming Info Sessions
Join us online for an information session discussing GW's Master of Arts in History program or GW's Master of Arts in Museums, History and Culture program.
November 10: MA in History Info Session
November 11: MA in Museums, History and Culture Info Session
"Thanks to the History Department, I was able to learn fascinating subjects, conduct important research, conference with knowledgeable and attentive professors, and graduate feeling prepared for the future as a historian."
Max Skidelsky
BA '20
History by the Numbers
Our Highlights
Department Headlines
From Emancipation to Juneteenth: The Long Road to Freedom after the Civil War
GW History Department Chair Denver Brunsman discusses the evolution of Juneteenth.
Graduating GW Senior Soars to the Friendly Skies
History and organizational sciences student Demetrius Apostolis will head to the prestigious United Airlines pilot training program after Commencement.
GW Professor Honored by German Government for Lifetime of Work
Hope Harrison has shaped our understanding of the Cold War and shared her work with international audiences.
Faculty Books
Inquiring into Empire: Colonial Commissions and British Imperial Reform, 1819–1833
Co-written by Lisa Ford, this research covers the vast project of British imperial investigation between the 1815 Battle of Waterloo and the Great Reform Act.
Weapons in Space: Technology, Politics, and the Rise and Fall of the Strategic Defense Initiative
In Weapons in Space, Aaron Bateman draws from recently declassified American, European, and Soviet documents to give an insightful account of the SDI.
Plentiful Country: The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York
Acclaimed historian Tyler Anbinder presents for the first time the Famine generation’s individual and collective tales of struggle, perseverance, and triumph.
Mungo Park's Ghost: The Haunted Hubris of British Explorers in Nineteenth-Century Africa
Telling the full story of two failed British expeditions for the first time, Dane Kennedy argues that they provide fresh insight into British ambitions in Africa.