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The Department of History explores the past, seeking to understand how people have made the world, live in it, and seek change. We also examine what people do with memories and stories of the past, examining ideas of heritage, values and identities in our complex and diverse social, political, economic and cultural worlds.

CHANGES to HISTORY, 2022

Learn more here

  • New History Faculty, Courses & Course Numbers
  • Additional History courses for FSHT credit
  • Revised History Major Requirements (starting Fall 2022)
Celebrating Our 2021 Grads!

Honors History Grads 2021

History Honors Class of 2021; from left to right: Chris Barry, Maggie Castelli, Rowan Cai, Spencer Yacos.

Faculty-Student Research

UR Summer Fellowships: Ryan McEvoy and David Brandenberger

UR Summer Fellowships: Ryan McEvoy and David Brandenberger

University of Richmond students discuss summer research opportunities that give them a chance to explore their passions through hands-on projects, all while making a difference in the wider world.

UR Summer Fellowships: Kelsey Ensign and Dr. Eric Yellin

UR Summer Fellowships: Kelsey Ensign and Dr. Eric Yellin

University of Richmond students discuss summer research opportunities that give them a chance to explore their passions through hands-on projects, all while making a difference in the wider world.

2016 Student Symposium, School of Arts and Sciences

2016 Student Symposium, School of Arts and Sciences

The School of Arts & Sciences hosts an annual Student Symposium every April, which showcases hundreds of student research projects from across the disciplines.

Faculty Highlights

  • Loo Awarded
    Loo Awarded

    Tze Loo, associate professor of history, was named a 2022 recipient of the University’s Distinguished Educator Award at the annual Colloquy celebration.
  • Seeley Wins Book Prize
    Seeley Wins Book Prize

    Samantha Seeley, associate professor of history, received the 2021 Jon Gjerde Book Award from the Midwestern History Association for her book Race, Removal, and the Right to Remain: Migration and the Making of the United States. The prize recognizes the year’s best book on Midwestern history. Learn More.
  • Seeley Receives Distinguished Book Prize
    Seeley Receives Distinguished Book Prize

    Samantha Seeley, associate professor of history, received the 2022 Merle Curti Social History Award from the Organization of American Historians for her book Race, Removal, and the Right to Remain: Migration and the Making of the United States. This award is given annually by OAH for the best book in American social history. Learn more.
  • Drell published
    Drell published

    Joanna Drell, professor of history, co-edited Rethinking Norman Italy: Studies in Honour of Graham A. Loud (Manchester University Press). 
  • Sackley Receives NEH Grant
    Sackley Receives NEH Grant

    Nicole Sackley, associate professor of history and American Studies, has received $6,000 in summer funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to advance her book project, which explores the history of cooperatives in the United States. Read more: http://bit.ly/Sackley-NEH-Grant
  • Sackley Awarded
    Sackley Awarded

    Nicole Sackley, associate professor of history and american studies, was awarded a $2,000 VFIC Mednick Memorial Fellowship for her project, Co-op Capitalism: Cooperatives, International Development, and American Visions of Capitalism in the Twentieth Century.
  • Sackley Awarded
    Sackley Awarded

    Nicole Sackley, associate professor of history and american studies, has been awarded a $50,000 American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellowship for her project, Co-op Capitalism: Cooperatives, International Development, and American Visions of Capitalism in the Twentieth Century.
  • Sackley receives funding
    Sackley receives funding

    Nicole Sackley, associate professor of history and American Studies, received a $2,000 grant from the Friends of University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries for her new project, Co-op Capitalism: Cooperatives, International Development, and American Visions of Capitalism in the Twentieth Century.
  • Kahn Awarded
    Kahn Awarded

    Michelle Kahn has been awarded the 2019 Fritz Stern Dissertation Prize by the German Historical Institute.
  • Sackley Receive Rockefeller Funding
    Sackley Receive Rockefeller Funding
    Dr. Nicole Sackley has received a grant from the Rockefeller Archive Center for Mapping the Foundations: US Philanthropy in a Cold War World, 1947-1991, in partnership with Dr. Timothy Barney. This project also recently received $10,000 in start up funds from the Provost's CIE initiative.

Upcoming Events

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Feature Stories

University of Richmond History Professor Samantha Seeley Wins Book Prize For 'Best Book on Midwestern History'
History professor Samantha Seeley has received the Jon Gjerde Book Award from the Midwestern History Association for her book Race and Removal.
University of Richmond Historian Wins Distinguished Book Prize
History professor Samantha Seeley has received the 2022 Merle Curti Social History Award from the Organization of American Historians.
University of Richmond Digital Scholarship Lab Receives Three National Awards for Southern Journey Story Map Project
The Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond has received three awards for the story map project Southern Journey: The Migrations of the American South, 1790-2010.
UR's New American History Project Recognized As Top Digital Teaching and Learning Tool
The American Association of School Librarians has named University of Richmond’s New American History project one of the “Best Digital Tools for Teaching & Learning” for 2021.
Temporary Signage Marks Burial Ground on UR Campus
The University of Richmond has installed signage on campus to mark the sacred space of a former burial ground for enslaved persons and describe what is known about the desecration that occurred there.
Student research results in online exhibition featuring ancient coins
For the past semester, Laposata has examined coins from the eastern Mediterranean which stemmed from research for his honors history thesis.
A&S hosts Contested Spaces event about walls and borders around the world
On February 28th in the Richmond Room, the departments of history, sociology & anthropology, and languages, literatures, and cultures hosted a scholarly conference entitled “Walls, Borders, and Partitions in Global Perspective.” The conference was held as part of this year’s Contested Spaces in which the 2019-20 focal point is “This Ground.”
New University of Richmond Mapping Project to Track Patterns and Global Impact of U.S. Philanthropy
Two University of Richmond professors, in collaboration with UR’s Digital Scholarship Lab, are developing a tool that will trace every international grant given by the Ford and Rockefeller foundations during the Cold War.
UR History Professor Awarded $18,000 to Research Mysterious Political Purge in the Soviet Union
David Brandenberger, professor of history at the University of Richmond, will travel to Moscow this summer to review newly declassified documents related to the Leningrad Affair from the former Soviet archives.
Prominent Historians Headline Lecture on Confederate History
The University of Richmond and American Civil War Museum are partnering to host a lecture focusing on The Civil War and our understanding of the Confederacy. The event is Oct. 18, 7:30 p.m., Robins School of Business, Ukrop Auditorum.
University of Richmond Junior Awarded International Gilman Scholarship for Study Abroad in Bejing
University of Richmond junior Alice Vo, of New York City, has received a Gilman scholarship to support her study abroad experience in China this fall.
UR history professor to complete book on the roots of U.S. deportation through Library of Congress fellowship
Samantha Seeley, assistant professor of history at the University of Richmond, has been awarded a Kluge Fellowship from The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress for her book, “Race and Removal in the Early American Republic.”
Richmonder and recent University of Richmond graduate awarded Fulbright to teach English in Malaysia
Tim Gruber of Richmond has received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship, which he will complete in Malaysia January through November 2019.
UR history professor receives congressional research grant
Eric Yellin, associate professor of history at the University of Richmond, has received a grant from The Dirksen Congressional Center for his project, “Social Security: A Social History.”
Edward Ayers receives 2018 Avery O.Craven Award
Edward Ayers, Tucker Boatwright Professor of the Humanities and president emeritus at the University of Richmond has been awarded the 2018 Avery O. Craven Award for his book, “The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America.”
Addictions Old and New Conference Videos
Alumni Testimonials
Undergraduate Humanities Fellows Program
Faculty Publications
Freeman Visiting Professor

Resources

Digital Scholarship Lab

Library Research Guide

Office of Sustainability

Contact Us

Mailing address:
History Department
Humanities Building
106 UR Drive
University of Richmond, VA 23173

Phone: (804) 289-8332
Fax: (804) 287-1992

Department Chair: Dr. Joanna Drell
Academic Administrative Assistant: Sabrina Anderson