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Admissions

The dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences admits candidates to the Graduate School for advanced study in history only upon the recommendation of the History Department. The department considers applications only for the PhD degree. Strong preference will be given to applicants who are adequately prepared to meet the language requirements for the doctorate. The GRE General test is required. For a complete listing of the elements of a complete admissions application, consult the GSAS Guide to Admis­sions and Financial Aid. 

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Academic Residence — The minimum academic residence requirement of graduate study in history at Harvard is two years of full-time study. For information on financial residence see the GSAS Guide to Admission and Financial Aid. 

Advising – When applying, students often make quite explicit statements regarding their research interests and the faculty with whom they wish to work. Based on this information, students are assigned an advisor with whom they consult from the point of initial enroll­ment. The advisor must approve the student’s plans of study in the first four terms, and is often the chair of both the general examina­tion and dissertation committees. Effecting a change of advisors typically involves conver­sations with both the new advisor and the original advisor. Once an agreement has been reached, the coordinator of graduate studies must be informed.

Plan of Study — A candidate upon entering the first year must, before filing his or her study card with the registrar, submit a formal Plan of Study, approved by his or her faculty advisor, to the director of graduate studies. This plan will state the candidate’s choice of courses and language examinations during the first two years.

During these years, the candidate must take at least nine half-courses, chosen in consultation with his or her faculty advisor. Of these half-courses, at least six must be in history, and of these six half courses, two must be research seminars in history with letter grades. A minimum grade of B is required in eight courses; a grade of satisfactory is required in “The Writing of History: Approaches and Practices” in the fall term of his or her first full year of residence.

It is expected that students will ordinarily complete coursework in the term of enroll­ment in the course. Incompletes are not permitted in any course, unless there is a certi­fied medical excuse.

Languages — Candidates admitted to grad­uate study in history will be required to show a satisfactory reading knowledge, met by a performance judged proficient or satisfactory on the departmental language examination, of at least two foreign languages. All incoming first-year students must take at least one language examination in September of their first year of graduate study, and the second in January of that year. All examinations must be completed prior to taking the General Examination. The required languages, based on the candidate’s historical field of research, are listed below:

African History — One European language (preferably French) and Arabic or another African language

Ancient History — French, German, Ancient Greek, and Latin

British History — French or German and one other European language

Byzantine History — French, German, Byzantine Greek, and Latin

Early Modern European History — French, German, and one other language (if required for research)

East Asian History — Two East Asian languages, or one East Asian language plus German, French or Russian

International History — two major inter­national languages, e.g., French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic

Latin American History — two of the following: Spanish, Portuguese, French, or German

Medieval History — Western Medieval and Renaissance History: French, German, and Latin

Middle Eastern History — French, German, and a Middle Eastern language

Modern European History — Modern History of Western and Central Europe: French or Russian and German; Modern History of Eastern Europe: French or German, and two approved languages pertinent to the area studied

Russian History — Modern Russian History: Russian and either French or German; Medi­eval Russian History: Russian, Old Church Slavonic, and either French or German

South Asian History — two South Asian languages (e.g., Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil) or one South Asian and one non-South Asian language (e.g., French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic)

United States History — two of the following at a satisfactory level, or one at a proficient level: French, German, or Spanish

Economic and Social History of Europe and the United States — French and German

Intellectual History of Europe and the United States — French and German 

These examinations will be graded “proficient,” “satisfactory,” or “unsatisfactory,” and the grades will be part of the candidate’s record. Candidates who receive a grade of “unsatisfactory” on an examination will be required to take that examination again, ordi­narily the next time it is offered. In case of another failure at that time, the candidate will be permitted to remain registered but will be expected to follow a program giving emphasis to further language preparation, ordinarily including a course offered by the appropriate language department. Failure to meet the requirement following this term of remedial study will oblige the candidate to study the language intensively during the fourth term. The candidate may be required to spend this term full-time in the study of the language not yet satisfactorily known.

No more than two half-courses in a foreign language will count for credit toward the degree.

Certification of competence in languages in which the Department of History does not offer examinations may be made by other departments or committees of the University.

Before approving a student’s dissertation topic, the chair, in consultation with the prospective dissertation director, must be sat­isfied that the candidate commands the neces­sary languages for the projected research. 

General Examination — The purpose of the general examination is to expand and deepen students’ general historical knowl­edge, provide them with the tools to conduct research in history, and prepare them to teach. The examination is composed of four fields; the candidate is examined orally in each field for 30 minutes, so that the entire examination occupies two hours.

Guidelines for constructing fields:
1. Field definitions should be constructed with the guidance of the candidate’s advisor and individual examiners and must be approved by the director of graduate studies. Fields may be defined temporally within regions, nations or empires (e.g., Byzantine Empire, colonial Latin America, China since 1800) or thematically or comparatively (e.g., European intellectual history, comparative empires, comparative gender history, diasporic histories). Within each field, an encyclopedic knowledge of detail is not expected, but the candidate should demonstrate familiarity with the important problems and substantial mastery of the basic literature in each field.

2. Since the purpose of the general examination is to achieve breadth of knowledge, the selection of the four fields should be made with the aim of achieving range across time and space. Students are required to include an early and a modern field (with chronological coverage suitable to the particular regional frame). It is strongly recommended that all students present a field that includes a region of the world beyond their area of specialization.

3a. Students whose main pursuit is European history will ordinarily cover three of the following four periods in their choice of fields: ancient, medieval, early modern, modern. If one examination field is outside the history of both Europe and the United States, however, fields in two of these temporal periods will suffice.

3b. Students whose main pursuit is United States history will ordinarily cover fields in the US to 1815 and the US since 1815. If one additional examination field is outside the history of both Europe and the United States, these two fields will suffice for temporal diversity.

3c. It is strongly recommended that students  in Asian, African, Latin American, or Middle Eastern history, in addition to the early and modern fields in their area of specialization, present at least one field outside these areas, or an international or comparative field.

3d. Students are permitted to present a field outside the history department comparable in scope to departmental fields.

3e. A candidate may not present more than two fields in a single national history.

Preparation for Examinations
Candidates prepare for General Examina­tions both by taking graduate seminars and by arranging for reading courses (History 3010) with the faculty members who will serve as examiners in the several fields. Faculty members may conduct History 3010 either as individual tutorials or as small-group discus­sions (when several students are simultane­ously preparing similar fields for examination). The four fields are prepared with four different faculty members, one of whom is ordinarily the primary advisor.

Examiners
Candidates may select a faculty member at the assistant professor level or above and must consult the graduate coordinator if proposing to select a faculty member outside the University.

Extensions
The examination is taken late in the fourth term. Candidates may petition the director of graduate studies for extension to the fifth term. The last possible extension, to the sixth term, requires a petition to the director, subject to the approval of the department. Candidates make examination arrangements with the graduate coordinator.

Evaluation
A candidate’s advisor ordinarily chairs the examination committee. The candidate deter­mines the order of fields to be examined. At the conclusion of the examination, the chair will ask the candidate to wait outside the room while the committee deliberates. The candi­date will be informed directly after the exami­nation whether he or she has passed, and the department will follow up with official noti­fication. The grade is final. The overall grade may be requested from the graduate coordi­nator one month after the examination date.

Interpretation of the Final Grade
The passing final grades are Excellent, Good, or Fair, and a plus or minus can be attached to each grade. A candidate can be failed with no bar to reexamination, or failed without the possibility of reexamination. If one fails the General Examination with no bar to reexami­nation, he or she will be allowed to take the examination a second time in the fifth or sixth term. The mark of Excellent is rare and repre­sents an exceptional performance. A mark of Good shows a solid grasp of the historiography and problems of each field, with no significant weaknesses, although varying (Good Plus to Good Minus) in articulateness. A mark of Fair indicates significant weaknesses in at least some fields, and some difficulty in articulating historiography and problems.

The grade does not become public record; it is held internally by the department, not by the Office of the Registrar. It is used when assessing departmental nominations for Harvard fellowships but will not be a part of the candidate’s dossier for applying for academic positions. 

Master of Arts (AM) – The interim AM degree is ordinarily awarded, by formal application, to doctoral candidates after they have met the coursework, language, and residency require­ments.

Dissertation — As soon as possible after pass ing the General Examination, and in no case later than two terms after passing it, doc toral candi­dates must identify a dissertation director, a dissertation committee, settle on a dissertation topic, and, with the director’s approval, present a pro posal on the subject of their projected dissertation to their committee members. The committee is composed of the director, who should ordinarily be a permanent member of the department, and two others, one of whom may not be a permanent member.

After the fifth term, candidates are required to present their dissertation propos als in a conference of faculty and graduate  students.

Beginning in their fourth year, all students will present an annual statement of progress to the members of their dissertation com mittee.

A prospective sixth-year or more advanced student must have a written statement from the supervisor of the dissertation indi cating that there is satisfactory progress in research and writing.

An unbound copy of the completed dis sertation must be distributed to each member of the dissertation committee no later than December 1 for the degree in March, April 1 for the degree in May, or September 1 for the degree in November. The final dissertation manuscript should conform to the requirements described in The Form of the PhD Dissertation.

Beginning in academic year 2009-2010 incoming students will be required to defend their dissertations. The defense committee will consist of the student’s dissertation committee plus one additional member drawn from the History Department, another Harvard depart­ment, or outside the University. Prior to the oral defense, each member of the defense committee will write a detailed report on the dissertation. The defense itself should last approximately two hours. It will be open to the intellectual community of faculty and graduate students as well as the friends and family of the student. Once the dissertation has been successfully defended, members of the committee will sign the dissertation acceptance certificate. The committee’s written reports will be appended to the certificate. The oral defense is optional for students who enter the program before the 2009-2010 academic year.

As of May 1994, an overall Graduate School of Arts and Sciences policy has been established that students will not be permitted to register beyond their tenth year in the Graduate School.

If eight years after passing the General Examination a candidate has not completed all the requirements for the degree, he or she may be dropped from candidacy. A candidate who has been dropped can be reinstated only by formal readmission to the Graduate School and to the Department of History.

More Information

Further information about graduate study in history may be obtained by writing to the Coordinator of Graduate Studies, Department of History, Harvard University, Robinson Hall, Cambridge, MA 02138; or by visiting www.history.fas.harvard.edu.

Applications for admission and grants, and information regarding admissions proce­dures, may be obtained by writing to the Admissions Office, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Holyoke Center 350, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138. We encourage online submission of the application. See www.gsas.harvard.edu.

Current Research Interests of Members of the Department of History

Akyeampong, Emmanuel K., Professor of History and African and African American Studies. Sub-Saharan Africa, comparative slavery, social and cultural history.

Armitage, David, Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History. British, intellectual, and interna­tional history.

Beckert, Sven, Laird Bell Professor of History. 19th-century US social and economic history, comparative labor  history.

Blackbourn, David, Coolidge Professor of History. Modern European history, especially the political, social, and cultural history of 19th-century Germany.

Blair, Ann, Charles Lea Professor of History. Early modern France; intellectual and cultural history, his tory of the book, history of science.

Bose, Sugata, Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs. South Asia and compara­tive dimensions of modern history across the Indian Ocean.

Brown, Vincent, Professor of History and of African and African-American Studies. History of slavery and the anglophone West Indies.

Chaplin, Joyce, James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American History. Early American history, the history of science, intellectual history, environmental history.

Cohen, Lizabeth, Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies. 20th-century US history, broadly defined; history of cities, labor, consumption, and built environment.

Cott, Nancy F., Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History and Pforzheimer Foundation Director of the Schlesinger Library. 19th- and 20th­century US history, with an emphasis on gender.

Darnton, Robert, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and Director of the Harvard University Library. 18th and 19th c. France, European social and intellectual history.

Dench, Emma, Professor of the Classics and of History. Hellenistic, Roman Republican and early Roman imperial history, especially questions of identity and historiography.

Elkins, Caroline, Professor of History. East African history, modern African and  European history.

Faust, Drew, Lincoln Professor of History. 19th­century US history, Civil War.

Ferguson, Niall, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History. Financial and international history; American and British imperial history.

Frank, Alison Fleig, Associate Professor of History. Central European history, with an emphasis on the 19th and early 20th centuries .

Gordon, Andrew, Lee and Juliet Folger Fund Professor of History. Modern Japanese history; primary interest in labor and the social and political history of modern Japan.

Gordon, Peter, Professor of History. Modern European intellectual history; Germany and France; existentialism; critical theory; theories of knowledge; modern Jewish thought.

Hankins, James, Professor of History. Medieval and early modern intellectual history; history of Italy 1050-1796; the reception of classical texts in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Harrison, Henrietta, Professor of History. Imperial and modern China, nationalism and ethnicity in China.

Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks, Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and of African and African American Studies. 19th- and 20th­century American  history, African-American history, women’s and  religious history.

Higonnet, Patrice, Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History. Comparative  historiography of the French and American Revolutions. The theme of suicide in French history and literature, 17th–19th centuries.

Jasanoff, Maya, Associate Professor of History. Modern British history with a focus on Brit­ain’s relationship with its empire, Europe, and the rest of the world, particularly South Asia and the Atlantic world.

Jewett, Andrew, Assistant Professor of History and of Social Studies. History of the natural and social sciences in the US

Johnson, Walter, Winthrop Professor of History. 19th-century US, slavery, capitalism, imperi­alism; social and historical theory.

Jones, Christopher, George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics and Professor of History. Cultural history of Greco-Roman antiquity; Hellenistic period; Roman imperial period.

Kafadar, Cemal, Vehbi Koç Professor of Turkish Studies. Early modern and modern history of the Middle East and the Balkans.

Kirby, William C., Edith and Benjamin Geis­inger Professor of History. Modern Chinese history, with special concern for 20th-century political and economic history; Chinese foreign cultural and economic relations.

Kishlansky, Mark A., Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of History. British history, Tudor-Stuart period.

Kloppenberg, James, Charles Warren Professor of American History. American intellectual history, American and European intellectual and political history.

Lepore, Jill, David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History. Early American history.

Lewis, Mary, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences. 20th-century French and European social, urban, labor and legal history; immigration and citizenship; French colonialism.

Maier, Charles S., Leverett Saltonstall Professor of History. Comparative European political, economic, and social history in the 20th century. European-American relations; contem­porary German history.

Manela, Erez, Professor of History. Modern international history; US in the world; evolu­tion of international society; colonialism and nationalism.

Martin, Terry, George F. Baker III Professor of Russian Studies. Russian and Soviet history, including the study of Soviet nationalities policy.

McCormick, Michael, Francis Goelet Professor of Medieval History. Cultures, societies, and economies of the late Roman and early medieval Mediterranean basin, early medieval kingdoms and Byzantium, paleography, and codicology.

McGirr, Lisa, Professor of History. Modern American history, women’s studies, history of conservatism.

Miller, Ian, Assistant Professor of History. Modern Japanese history with a focus on cultural and environmental history.

Mottahedeh, Roy, Gurney Professor of Islamic History. Medieval Islamic history.

Najmabadi, Afsaneh, Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History. Middle East, gender and modernity.

O’Neill, Kelly, Assistant Professor of History. Social and cultural history of the Russian Empire, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries; Islam, architecture, the effect of commerce and trade on empire-building, and the history of the Black Sea region.

Owen, E. Roger, A.J. Meyer Professor of Middle East History. The political and eco nomic history of the 19th- and 20th-century Middle East.

Ozment, Steven, McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History. Intellectual, social, and cultural history of late medieval and  Renaissance Europe.

Plokhii, Serhii, Hrushevs’kyi Professor of Ukrai­nian History. Social, intellectual and cultural history of Ukraine and of Central and Eastern Europe.

Rothschild, Emma. Jeremy and Jane Knowles Professor of History. 18th century history, espe­cially the history of economic thought and economic history.

St. John, Rachel, Associate Professor of History. 19th- and 20th-century US history, with emphasis on western North America and transnational borderlands history.

Smail, Daniel, Professor of History. Late Medieval  social and cultural history; history of law and justice; natural history and histori­ography.

Surkis, Judith, Associate Professor of History and of History and Literature. Cultural and intel­lectual history and theory in modern France and Europe.

Tai, Hue-Tam Ho, Kenneth T. Young Professor of Sino-Vietnamese History. Social and intel­lectual history of modern Vietnam; peasants in the Chinese Revolution.

Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher, 300th Anniversary University Professor. Early American social history; women’s his tory, material life in America.

Womack, John Jr., Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics. Modern Latin America; Mexico.