Welcome to History

Looking forward to the past since 1894

Office Hours: M - F, 8:00 AM - 12:00 and 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM

 

Letter from the Chair

Welcome Friends and Lovers of History,

Many faculty members in the History Department at the University of Illinois have heard the “confessions of a history lover”: “I love history, but my parents want me to major in something practical.” Those of us engaged in teaching and learning about history-faculty members, graduate students, undergraduates, and our lifelong learning alumni-know the immense value of history and its centrality to our humanity. Its stories enlighten and entertain us; understanding history allows us to make sense of our world and to evaluate the present; the practice of history teaches us the skills of analysis and the joys of precise writing and argumentation. I am pleased to welcome our many constituencies of the History Department to this web portal: our faculty, whose mission is to produce new knowledge about history and to transmit that knowledge to publics both within and outside the university’s walls; our graduate students, scholar-teachers-in-training, who challenge us and bring so much energy and creativity to our endeavor; our undergraduates, who will use their history training and skills as a springboard to diverse careers; and our alumni, particularly the Friends of History whose goal is to support the department and its activities. You can learn more about the Friends of History through the link here and its Facebook page: I invite you to join them! Our calendar of events and other news items on this page will tell you what’s going on week in and week out in the vibrant and exciting life of History at Illinois. Welcome and enjoy!

Diane P. Koenker
Professor and Chair

News & Announcements

Congratulations to Craig Koslofsky, whose book, Evening's Empire: A History of the Night in Early Modern Europe, was awarded the Longman History Today Prize January 11, 2012 in London for the best first or second book in history published in 2011. Judges described the book as "methodologically bold and brilliantly original." More details about the prize can be found at:

http://www.historytoday.com/blog/2012/01/pictures-history-today-awards-party

 

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Upcoming Events

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Recent Faculty Publications

Fu bookPoshek Fu (Author) China in Hong Kong: Shaw Brothers Cinema (Oxford University Press)

 

Burton BookAntoinette Burton (Author) A Primer for Teaching World History (Duke University Press)

 

M Steinberg edited bookMark Steinberg and Valeria Sobol (Editors) Interpreting Emotions: In Russia and Eastern Europe (Northern Illinois University Press)

 

Steinberg Book Cover

Mark Steinberg (Author) Petersburg Fin de Siècle (Yale University Press)

 

 

View other publications from our faculty