History
Graduate Study in History
The Department of History supports graduate study in Public History and US Social and Cultural History with a focus on the 19th and 20th centuries. Faculty strengths in this area include urban history, digital history, the built environment, labor, the history of sexuality, the history of women and gender, the history of political economy, and the history of popular culture and entertainment.
Led by a diverse and nationally-acclaimed faculty, our curriculum is designed to develop a deep understanding of the human past and to provide students with insight into the world in which they live through a perspective of time and change. Loyola History graduate students also have excellent opportunities for learning and exploration outside of the classroom.
Infused by our Jesuit mission, we support study that deepens our understanding of the human condition, reflects a shared commitment to a just and humane society, and puts knowledge to work in the world.
History (HIST)
HIST 400 Contemporary Approaches to History (3 Credit Hours)
The course focuses on twentieth-century historical writing, emphasizing changing interpretive paradigms and innovative methodologies, and will introduce students to the range of topics and influences that now shape the discipline.
Students will demonstrate their ability to analyze historical interpretations, while honing their skills in writing and oral presentation
Outcomes
Students will demonstrate their ability to analyze historical interpretations, while honing their skills in writing and oral presentationHIST 403 Professional Lives of Historians (3 Credit Hours)
This course explores pedagogical, professional, and ethical issues of importance to historians. We will examine the many identities of historians and the relationship between training in history and career pathways. Students will explore the history of the historical profession, approaches to teaching history, ethical issues in history as well as the diverse pathways available to those with training in history. Each student will complete a pedagogical activity, a career exploration report, and a professionalizing project. Required of all first year PhD students. Open to all other students as an elective.
Recognize the application of historical training in many arenas; Understand the ethical challenges facing historians
Outcomes
Recognize the application of historical training in many arenas; Understand the ethical challenges facing historiansHIST 410 Topics (3 Credit Hours)
Topics vary as this course allows for the offering of specialized topics designed to enhance the graduate curriculum. Students will be demonstrate knowledge of the key features of the topic, analyze and debate the various historical themes concerning it, and complete a historiographical or research paper related to the theme of the class.
HIST 441 Women's & Gender History: Europe (3 Credit Hours)
This course provides an introduction to the major themes and scholarship in women's and gender history. It examines a variety of debates about and methodological approaches to the historical construction of gender, ranging from histories of the body and sexuality to analyses of culture, politics, and the economy. It explores how gender identities were produced and contested at specific historical moments and in different locations.
Interdisciplinary Option: Women & Gender Studies
Course equivalencies: X-HIST441/WOST441/WSGS441
HIST 442 Women's & Gender History: U.S.A. (3 Credit Hours)
The course explores the literature on women and gender in US history with attention to theoretical issues, a broad chronological scope, and cultural diversity. Students will demonstrate their ability to analyze a body of historical literature on women and gender in US history while honing their skills in writing and oral presentation.
Interdisciplinary Option: Women & Gender Studies
Course equivalencies: X-HIST442/WOST442/WSGS442
Students will demonstrate their ability to analyze a body of historical literature on women and gender in US history, while honing their skills in writing and oral presentation
Outcomes
Students will demonstrate their ability to analyze a body of historical literature on women and gender in US history, while honing their skills in writing and oral presentationHIST 450 Nineteenth Century America (3 Credit Hours)
This course focuses on major historiographical questions reflecting the diversity of inquiry in the field of nineteenth century U.S. history. Students will be introduced to the major historiographical debates concerning the development of American society and politics during the nineteenth century. Students learn to critique recent historical literature through discussion and reflective essays.
Students will be introduced to the major historiographical debates concerning the development of American society and politics during the nineteenth century; Students learn to critique recent historical literature through discussion and reflective essays
Outcomes
Students will be introduced to the major historiographical debates concerning the development of American society and politics during the nineteenth century; Students learn to critique recent historical literature through discussion and reflective essaysHIST 459 Environmental History (3 Credit Hours)
Environmental history expands the customary framework of historical inquiry, incorporating such actors as animals, diseases, and climate alongside more familiar human institutions and creations. This course will expose students to the major concepts, tools, and sources in the field. It will equip students to describe major changes in approaches to environmental history. It will prepare students to write, teach, and develop research projects on environmental history.
1) Exposure to the major concepts, tools, & sources in the field; 2) Ability to describe major changes in approaches to environmental history
Outcomes
1) Exposure to the major concepts, tools, & sources in the field; 2) Ability to describe major changes in approaches to environmental historyHIST 460 Urban America (3 Credit Hours)
This course examines the evolution of the United States from a rural and small-town society to an urban and suburban nation. Cities, and especially Chicago, have long offered some of the best laboratories for the study of American history, social structure, economic development and cultural change. This colloquium will provide a historiographical introduction to the major questions and issues in the culture and social life of American cities.
HIST 461 Twentieth Century America (3 Credit Hours)
Reading and discussion seminar. Students will read monographs and articles in 20th century U.S. history, including social, cultural, intellectual, and other approaches. The final assignment will be a long historiographic paper.
HIST 464 Transnational Urban History (3 Credit Hours)
This class exposes students to the history of cities across a broad spectrum of time and place. The level of analysis is both more global and more local than traditional narratives of the nation state. This course explores the recurring challenges and possibilities of urban life and urban governance across cultures and time. An emphasis on reading and writing will help students develop the skills of critical analysis. Restricted to Graduate Students.
Appreciation for the recurring challenges and possibilities of urban life and urban governance across cultures and time; An emphasis on reading and writing will help students develop the skills of critical analysis
Outcomes
Appreciation for the recurring challenges and possibilities of urban life and urban governance across cultures and time; An emphasis on reading and writing will help students develop the skills of critical analysisHIST 479 Public History Media (3 Credit Hours)
An introduction to the field of digital humanities and public media. Through a series of assignments and in-class labs centered around common Digital Humanities tools and platforms, the class will explore current and historical conversations in digital humanities and new media and address theoretical and practical problems involved in digital humanities-based methods and methodology. The final product of each assignment will be a collaborative digital public humanities project.
HIST 480 Public History: Method & Theory (3 Credit Hours)
This course explores the field of public history with special emphasis on the theoretical and methodological challenges faced when preserving or presenting history outside of a formal classroom environment. Also under consideration will be the professional and ethical responsibilities of the historian both inside and outside of the university setting. Students will be able to understand the theoretical and methodological issues of importance to the field of public history, reflect upon ethical issues involved in the collection, curation, and presentation of history, and participate in applied projects drawing upon public history methodologies and presentation modes.
HIST 481 Management of Historic Resources (3 Credit Hours)
This class is an introduction to historic preservation. The class will review the way public historians work to protect the material culture of the built environment on a local, state, and national level. The class will consist of lectures on aspects of historic preservation, the discussion of weekly readings, and the execution of a preservation project. The project will be to prepare a National Register of Historic Places nomination on a single property or historic district.
HIST 482 Archives & Record Management (3 Credit Hours)
This course introduces basic archival theory and methodology. Particular emphasis will be placed on ethics, best practices, and the relationship of archives to allied fields.
HIST 483 Oral History: Method and Practice (3 Credit Hours)
This course will give students a basic understanding of oral history by asking several questions of the discipline, including: What exactly is oral history and what sets it apart from other historical research methodologies? What are the ethical issues involved in undertaking oral history? How does one conduct, record, and archive an interview? What steps are necessary in constructing an oral history project? What are the merits of the various products that can be derived from oral history in both texts and multimedia? In addition to reading oral historical texts and theory, students will conduct at least two interviews and participate in an ongoing oral history project. Students will learn how to develop, conduct, and evaluate an oral history interview and prepare oral history interviews for archival disposition.
Students learn how to develop, conduct, and evaluate an oral history interview and prepare oral history interviews for archival disposition
Outcomes
Students learn how to develop, conduct, and evaluate an oral history interview and prepare oral history interviews for archival dispositionHIST 484 Material Culture (3 Credit Hours)
This class is restricted to Graduate students. This course is an introduction to approaches to the study of American material culture in its many forms, including decorative arts and mass-produced consumer objects; urban form, vernacular architecture, commemorative landscapes; the body and dress; foodways; and the material culture of childhood. The course will consider the ways scholars use material culture to "do" history, with an emphasis on artifacts as evidence.
1) Students will understand the theory and practice of material culture study; 2) Students will gain experience in artifactural analysis; 3) Students will research and interpret material culture
Outcomes
1) Students will understand the theory and practice of material culture study; 2) Students will gain experience in artifactural analysis; 3) Students will research and interpret material cultureHIST 487 Public History: Museums (3 Credit Hours)
This course introduces graduate students to issues involved in the management of history museums while considering many questions about the role and function of museums in American society. What does it mean to say that museums serve the public? How can museums become more diverse, equitable, accessible, and inclusive institutions? How do museums tell stories and who gets to decide what stories to tell? How and why do museums collect, care for, and display some objects and not others? Why do people visit museums, what do they experience there, and what do those visits mean to them? What does "success" look like and how does one measure it? What financial, administrative, and ethical issues do museums face? How can museums critically address today's complex political, cultural, and social realities?
HIST 496 Race, Violence & Memory (3 Credit Hours)
Pre-requisites: Graduate Student status
In the last generation, historians, literary scholars, and other humanists have intensified the study of historical memory and commemoration, even as public demonstrations, debates, and legislation over historical markers and monuments have proliferated. This course examines the ways that Americans have remembered, forgotten, and argued over violent episodes that have played important roles in their history. We will examine three aspects of historical memory: how individuals, institutions, and movements created and silenced historical memories; how these memories were embodied in the commemorative landscape; and how memories and public landscapes have changed over time.
The course¿s primary goals are provide students with an understanding of these changing historical memories and the tools to incorporate them into the their future professional lives
Outcomes
The course¿s primary goals are provide students with an understanding of these changing historical memories and the tools to incorporate them into the their future professional livesHIST 498 Dissertation Research (3 Credit Hours)
Students register for this course once they begin work on their dissertation and have not yet completed the sixty hours required for the PhD degree. If necessary, this course can be taken up to three times.
HIST 499 Directed Study (3 Credit Hours)
This course provides students with the opportunity to work under the direction of a faculty member on a particular area of interest. There is a form that must be completed and submitted prior to course registration. There are limits on how many of these can be taken over the course of a student's career: MA (2 times) and PhD (3 times).
HIST 510 Research Seminar - Special Topics (3 Credit Hours)
Research seminar using primary sources in cultural, social, technological, intellectual, and institutional history. Topics vary according to the interest of the instructor. Students will learn how to local and analyze archival material to develop an original article-length research paper. Students will learn how to locate and analyze archival materials to develop an original article-length research paper.
HIST 555 US Social & Intellectual History (3 Credit Hours)
Research seminar that focuses on different topics relating to the social and intellectual history of the United States. Students learn how to locate and analyze archival materials to develop an original article-length research paper.
HIST 558 Studies in American Cultural History (3 Credit Hours)
Research seminar focused on primary sources in American cultural history. Students will learn how to locate and analyze archival materials to develop an original article-length research paper.
HIST 561 Seminar-Gender & Women's History (3 Credit Hours)
This seminar focuses on the use of gender as a category of analysis in history and is particularly appropriate for those who have taken courses in Women's and Gender History or Women's Studies. Students will produce a research paper; they may choose any topic relevant to issues of gender or women for any time period or society, as long as adequate primary sources are available.
HIST 581 Practicum in Public History (3 Credit Hours)
Practicums provide students with specific exposure to an aspect of the practice of public history. Practicums are undertaken either under the direct supervision of Loyola faculty or the joint supervision of a Loyola faculty member and a cooperating off-campus supervisor.
HIST 582 Public History Internship (1-3 Credit Hours)
The internship will provide an extended practical experience in the field of public history. Internships are tailored to fit the needs of the individual student and the needs of the off-campus agency involved. As part of their program, all public history students must undertake an internship either doing public history in the private sector or with a public agency. The internship is available during any semester and its timing is related to an individual student's progress in the program. This is a variable credit course. Students in the MA Public History program take a 1-hour internship (50 hours minimum). Students in the PhD program, the MA Program or the dual MAPH/MILS Program take a 3-hour internship (150 hours).
HIST 584 U.S. Local History (3 Credit Hours)
Research Seminar that explores the nature and practice of local history and explores various methods and approaches central to local history research. This course will introduce students to the literature on local history, acquaint them with the methodology critical to local history research, and have them conduct original research on a local history topic.
This course has three objectives: 1. to introduce students to the literature on local history; 2. to acquaint students with the methodology critical to local history research, 3. to conduct original research on a local history topic
Outcomes
This course has three objectives: 1. to introduce students to the literature on local history; 2. to acquaint students with the methodology critical to local history research, 3. to conduct original research on a local history topicHIST 585 Career Diversity Internship (3 Credit Hours)
An elective course that allows PhD and MA students explore a career pathway and have the opportunity to see how the skills gained in History can be applied to diverse career settings. Students will gain an exposure to a non-academic career, develop new skills, and gain experience is communication, collaboration, and intellectual self-confidence.
Exposure to a non-academic career; development of new skills; gain experience in communication, collaboration, & intellectual self-confidence
Outcomes
Exposure to a non-academic career; development of new skills; gain experience in communication, collaboration, & intellectual self-confidenceHIST 598 Dissertation Proposal Seminar (3 Credit Hours)
Students work closely with an advisor to prepare their dissertation proposal.
HIST 599 Directed Primary Research (3 Credit Hours)
Students work under the direction of an advisor on a specific research project and produce a Master's Essay in lieu of the seminar requirement. There is a form that must be completed and submitted prior to course registration.
HIST 600 Dissertation Supervision (0 Credit Hours)
Students take this course once they complete all requirements for the PhD except the dissertation. The purpose of this course is to maintain active enrollment in the Graduate School during the fall and spring semesters. No credit hours are associated with this course and students receive a grade of CR.
HIST 605 Master's Study (0 Credit Hours)
Students register for 605 to maintain active enrollment in the Graduate School during the fall or spring semesters if they are not registered for any graduate class at the master's level while finishing up their requirements, such as field examinations and the research project. No credit hours are associated with this course and students receive a grade of CR.
HIST 610 Doctoral Study (0 Credit Hours)
Students register for 605 to maintain active enrollment in the Graduate School during the fall or spring semesters if they are not registered for any graduate class at the master's level while finishing up their requirements, such as field examinations and the research project. No credit hours are associated with this course and students receive a grade of CR.