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

1848 – Founding Concepts
1848 – Studying History
1848 – Founding of 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 – 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 – History of Science – First Formal Step
1940 – A Distinguished History Ph.D.
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
1968 – History Graduate Students Organize
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
2010 – First Women Department Chairs
2012 – Another AHA President
2015 – Our Board of Visitors
2017 – Combining Forces
2018 – History Professors Report on the KKK at the UW
2020 – To Be Continued!