The History of The History Department

University of Wisconsin – Madison
Our illustrious history stretches back to the mid-19th century when the State of Wisconsin and its flagship university were founded. This timeline highlights benchmarks in the department’s institutional history and key changes in its curriculum, faculty, and students, situating them in the context of the university’s history and broader changes in the discipline of history.
Timeline
1800’s
-
1848 – Founding of the UW
-
1848 – Founding Concepts
-
1848 – Studying History
-
1853 – Wisconsin Historical Society
-
1863 – Women at the UW
-
1853 – Wisconsin Historical Society
-
1863 – Women at the UW
-
1867-1889 – The UW’s First Historian
-
1880-1892 – Graduate Studies in History
-
1892-1904 – Emerging Disciplines
-
1889-1893 – Turner’s Benchmarks
-
1893 – Triple First! Kate Everest, PhD
-
1894 – Sifting and Winnowing
1900’s
-
1900 – UW’s School of History
-
1903 – An Early History Major
-
1905 – The Wisconsin Idea
-
1906 – Early Years of the History of Science
-
1915 – Snapshot in 1915
-
1920 – “Wisconsin School” #1
-
1925 – UW History’s First Pulitzer Prize
-
1931 – Our PhDs Win Pultizer Prizes, Too
-
1938 – A More Expansive History
-
1940 – A Distinguished History Ph.D.
-
1940 – History of Science – First Formal Step
-
1942 – History’s Disciplinary Identity?
-
1944 – Merle Curti’s Pulitzer Prize
-
1945-1958 – “The G.I. Invasion”
-
1946 – History of Science Firmly Established
-
1950 – Legal History Next Door
-
1950 – “Wisconsin School” #2
-
1955 – Explosion of Graduate Studies
-
1956 – Going Global – I
-
1956 – Going Global – II
-
1960 – Science + Medicine + Technology
-
1963 – Economic History
-
1964 – History Grad Students Document the Civil Rights Movement
-
1965 – Massively Popular Lectures
-
1969 – History Moves to the Humanities Building
-
1969 – History Moves to the Humanities Building
-
1971 – Faculty Diversity – I
-
1974 – Faculty Diversity – II
-
1976 – Women’s History
-
1985 – Undergraduate Challenges
-
1985 – Graduate Challenges
-
1991 – Restructuring History