Department of History

Timeline – 2010 – First Women Department Chairs

The photo is of a copy of the figurehead statue "Forward", which was created at the Columbian World Exposition in Chicago (1893) by artist-in-residence Jean Pond Miner. The title of the statue adopts the motto of the State of Wisconsin, and funding was provided by the women of Wisconsin. Following display in Chicago, the statue was initially installed at the State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. It has now been removed to the interior of the Wisconsin Historical Society, and a copy is on display near the State Capitol at the corner of State Street and Mifflin Street.
“Forward” (1893), funded by the women of Wisconsin. This is a copy of the figurehead statue “Forward”, which was created at the Columbian World Exposition in Chicago (1893) by artist-in-residence Jean Pond Miner. The title of the statue adopts the motto of the State of Wisconsin, and funding was provided by the women of Wisconsin. Following display in Chicago, the statue was initially installed at the State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. It has now been removed to the interior of the Wisconsin Historical Society, and a copy is on display near the State Capitol at the corner of State Street and Mifflin Street.

The first woman to serve as chair of the History Department was Florencia Mallon, Julieta Kirkwood Professor of History (now emerita). A historian of modern Latin America, Mallon joined the History Department in 1982 and served as chair in 2010-2013. Her many awards and honors include several for her books Peasant and Nation: The Making of Post-Colonial Mexico and Peru (1995) and Courage Tastes of Blood: The Mapuche Community of Nicolás Ailío and the Chilean State, 1906-2001 (2005).

In the History of Science Department, the honor went to Lynn Nyhart, who served as chair in 2000-2003 and again in 2010-2011. A historian of biology, mainly in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe, Nyhart has taught at the UW since 1988. Among her many publications is the prizewinning book Modern Nature: The Rise of the Biological Perspective in Germany (2009). She served as president of the History of Science Society in 2012-2013.

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