The University of Michigan Department of History records contain a large range of documentation regarding the operation, administration, statistics, faculty, and proceedings of the department. The bulk of the collection originally arrived at the Bentley in 1988 and a large addition was made in 2012. The collection spans from 1884 to 2017, however, the bulk of the content dates between 1970 and 1990. The collection is divided into fifteen series: Awards, College of LSA, Committees, Correspondence, Department, Faculty, Finances, General, Graduate Program, International Relations, Lecture Series, Partner Institutions, Programs, Publications, Student Affairs, and University of Michigan.
The University of Michigan Department of History, founded in 1845, began by teaching ancient history to freshman, medieval history to sophomores, and modern history to juniors. Andrew Dickson White, coming from Yale in 1857, was a pioneer in historical teaching methods and took the position of Professor of History and English Literature, becoming the first professor of Modern History. White was heavily involved in the university and encouraged students to start a three-year track of studying history. In 1862, Charles Kendall Adams became the second staff member to teach history, and he took over after White left. Adams is best known for introducing the seminary method of teaching at the university. In 1871, President James Angell added courses on international law and treatises to the history department. The Department of History officially became part of the School of Political Science in 1881. George Knight became the first student to graduate with a doctorate in history from the University of Michigan in 1884. In 1885, Richard Hudson became department chair of history and proceeded to become Dean of the Department of Literature, Science and Arts. In 1890 the second doctorate in history was awarded to Ephraim Adams and the School of Political Science was absorbed into the Literary Department, along with the Department of History.
In 1894, Earle Wilbur Dow taught the first history classes to be offered during the University of Michigan's newly established summer term. A course focused specifically on American History was established in 1896. In the early twentieth century, courses on ancient history were a minority, but courses on English history began to grow in popularity. In 1908 the general course on English history was able to be supplemented for the introductory course on European history, which was a prerequisite for all other work in the department. In addition, attendance in courses on medieval and American history increased and the Department of History had to expand its number of faculty. In 1910 the Department of History broke apart from the School of Political Science and became an independent department under the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) with Jesse Reeves as Chairman.
In 1914 the department hired Arthur Edward Romilly Boak, the first faculty member to be a specialist on ancient history. Boak allowed the course on ancient history to be accessible to freshman and it was able to serve as a substitute for the English history and European history introductory classes. His success at teaching quickly escalated his position and he became Chairman of the Department of History in 1930. In 1916 William Lytle Schurz offered the first history class on Latin-American history, and Boak proceeded to teach a class on military history. To further the diversity of classes offered by the department, Arthur Lyon Cross began teaching seminars on the Tudor and Stuart periods of England and in 1919 he was able to teach a specialized class on the British Empire. When Schurz left, the Latin-American position was left empty for a year until Arthur Scott Aiton began teaching it again in 1921. Aiton also influenced the growth of courses on Hispanic-American history. In 1924, the field of modern European history was strengthened by Albert Hyma, and the following year Nicholas S. Kaltchas joined the staff and began teaching courses on the Near East. In 1930 a class on the History of Western Civilization was offered and replaced the three introductory courses. John William Stanton became part of the faculty in 1932 and added to the Near East classes while also developing courses for the Far East. Lewis George Vander Velde came to the university in 1929 as a staff member of the history department and in 1935 he began accumulating documents on the history of the university and the state. In 1938 he was appointed Director of the Michigan Historical Collections, now the Bentley Historical Library.
In 1950 the Department of History, originally housed in Haven Hall, was forced to move to the building that housed the Michigan Historical Collections due to a fire in Haven Hall. In 1952, the department was able to move back to Haven Hall. Howard Ehrmann became Chairman in 1953, and John Bowditch in 1960. As of 1964, the Department of History held the place of second most popular field of concentration within the College of LSA, with English holding the first place position. Through the years, the Department has fought for the position and dropped to third place on occasion, being replaced by such concentrations as Mathematics and Psychology. In 1964, the Asian Studies branch of the department was broadened and students were allowed to focus on Asiatic history for their degree. After the University of Michigan switched to the trimester system in 1966, the department expanded the graduate program in comparative studies by introducing new comparative courses. A program in the History of Science was also introduced at this time. In 1969, Sidney Fine was appointed Chairman of the department. In 1971 Bradford Perkins took the position of Chairman and Gerhard Weinberg in 1972. Also in 1972, the department was given a grant to start offering courses on Comparative Studies in Historical Cultures, open to freshman and sophomores. David Bean assumed chairmanship of the department in 1974. In 1975, Roger Hackett took over as Chairman, followed by Marvin Becker and Jacob Price. In 1983, the Department of History was nationally ranked number five in the quality of faculty among all history departments across the United States. Albert Feuerwerker was appointed Chairman in 1984 and Thomas Trautmann took over in 1987.
The 1987-1988 term witnessed a large overhaul of the graduate studies program with changes aimed at incorporating comparative and interdisciplinary aspects into the program. To accompany this overhaul, the Graduate Organization of Students in History was also started. In 1989, as the number of undergraduate students increased, the department opted to offer an increasing amount of diversified courses for undergraduate students. William Rosenberg took over as Chairman in 1990. The same year, a joint doctoral program was offered in history and anthropology. In 1993 a program focused on British Studies was started. In 1994 Maris Vinovskis was appointed Chairman and the Department offered the first class in Spanish Language combined with the Latin American survey courses. In 1995, the department began offering seminary courses that were open to incoming students to allow them to experience classes other than large survey courses. Rebecca Scott followed Maris Vinovskis and became Chairman in 1996 and the Department offered a language class on Modern German. In 1997 the Department introduced courses that focused on English composition through the writing of history. A course focused on teaching pedagogy to graduate students was added in 1998. A minor in history was offered by the Department for the first time in 1999. In 2000 Frederick Cooper became Chairman and Sonya Rose took over in 2002. In 2005 the Institute for Historical Studies was established. Mary Kelley became Chairman in 2006 and Geoff Eley took the position in 2008.
Chairs of the Department of History
| Date |
Event |
| 1885-1911 | Richard Hudson |
| 1911-1930 | Claude Hallstead Van Tyne |
| 1930-1946 | Arthur Edward Romilly Boak |
| 1946 | Lewis G. Vandervelde (Acting) |
| 1947-1953 | Lewis G. Vandervelde |
| 1949-1950 | Arthur Edward Romilly Boak (Acting) |
| 1953-1959 | Howard Ehrmann |
| 1956 | Gerald S. Brown (Acting) |
| 1960-1965 | John Bowditch |
| 1965-1968 | William B. Wilcox |
| 1969-1971 | Sidney Fine |
| 1971-1972 | Bradford Perkins |
| 1972-1974 | Gerhard Weinberg |
| 1974-1975 | David Bien |
| 1975-1977 | Roger Hackett |
| 1977-1979 | Marvin Becker |
| 1979-1984 | Jacob Price |
| 1984-1987 | Albert Feuerwerker |
| 1987-1990 | Thomas Trautmann |
| 1990-1993 | William Rosenberg |
| 1993-1996 | Maris Vinovskis |
| 1996-1999 | Rebecca Scott |
| 1999-2002 | Frederick Cooper |
| 2002-2005 | Sonya Rose |
| 2005-2008 | Mary Kelley |
| 2008-2013 | Geoffrey Ely |
| 2013-2017 | Kathleen Canning |
| 2018- | Jay Cook |
