Share our enthusiasm for the study of past societies and cultures

History unlocks important insights into the world we inhabit. But we also find intellectual satisfaction, and wisdom, in understanding the past on its own terms. Because of the geographical breadth of our courses, history students develop a global consciousness as they develop key transferable skills such as critical thinking, communication, and empathy.

The World is Calling: History Majors

History is the centerpiece of a humanities education. It's about problem-solving, gathering evidence, and fitting that evidence together to understand what happened in past societies - and why those things happened.

Projects

Iowa Native Spaces

History Writing Center

History Corps

News and announcements

Stromquist Claiming the City

Shelton Stromquist wins the 2023 "Book of the Year" award from ILHA

Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Professor Emeritus Shelton Stromquist won the 2023 “Book of the Year Award” for labor history from the International Labor History Association (ILHA) for his book, Claiming the City: A Global History of Workers’ Fight for Municipal Socialism.
Group photo of Bob Cargill, Paul Dilley, Sarah Bond, and Brenda Longfellow

Sarah Bond appointed Holtsmark Associate Professor

Wednesday, October 4, 2023
History Professor Sarah Bond is one of two faculty members appointed to the Holtsmark Associate Professorship. She was one of four CLAS faculty recently honored with new named professorships in classics.
Michaela Hoenicke Moore

History Professor to Serve as Academic Year Freiburg Director

Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Professor Michaela Hoenicke Moore will serve as Academic Director for the Academic Year Freiburg (AYF) program during the 2023-24 academic year.

Upcoming events

The Search for Race: Civil War Medicine and Science promotional image

The Search for Race: Civil War Medicine and Science

Thursday, March 21, 2024 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Biology Building East
Leslie uses the social and cultural history of Civil War medicine and science to probe the question of how and why anti-Black racism survived the destruction of slavery. Leslie's talk will describe how white Northerners—the U.S. Sanitary Commission and Army medical personnel—conducted wartime research aimed at proving Black medical and biological inferiority. She argues that this research not only led to the mistreatment of Black soldiers and civilians, it also promoted the notion of white...
Iowa Women's History Month Lecture: Demographic Fears and the History of Reproduction in the Midwest promotional image

Iowa Women's History Month Lecture: Demographic Fears and the History of Reproduction in the Midwest

Thursday, March 21, 2024 4:30pm to 6:00pm
Iowa City Public Library
Dr. Lina-Maria Murillo, assistant professor in the departments of Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies, History, and Latina/o/x Studies at the University of Iowa, will explore how the potential for demographic change has affected the legal and social environment for obstetrical care in Iowa and the Midwest. Dr. Murillo is Assistant Professor in the departments of Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies, History, and Latina/o/x Studies at the University of Iowa. She is completing her first book...
Classics Colloquium: Dr. Emily Austin, "Demeter's Withdrawal: the Power of Sitting Still" promotional image

Classics Colloquium: Dr. Emily Austin, "Demeter's Withdrawal: the Power of Sitting Still"

Thursday, March 21, 2024 5:30pm
Adler Journalism and Mass Communication Building
Dr. Emily Austin from the University of Chicago will be presenting her lecture "Demeter's Withdrawal: the Power of Sitting Still" on Thursday, March 21 at 5:30 p.m. in AJB E105.
Interacting with Renaissance Books: Guest Lecture with Dr. Suzanne Karr Schmidt  promotional image

Interacting with Renaissance Books: Guest Lecture with Dr. Suzanne Karr Schmidt

Tuesday, March 26, 2024 6:30pm to 7:30pm
University of Iowa Main Library
This lecture looks at the continuing life and uses of some very old books in and outside of the Making the Book, Past and Present exhibition. Starting from one of the biggest in both scale and edition size, the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle, which was printed from hundreds of woodcut blocks, to others containing mystical puzzles or movable parts, no two copies of a pre-modern book were ever the same. This look at annotating, collecting, and censoring them, as well as keeping things in them will show...

New Histories for Reproductive Justice: Authors in Conversation

Thursday, March 28, 2024 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Professors Natalie Lira, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; and Angela Hume, University of California, Berkeley, will be in conversation with each other about their recent books on the topics of abortion and the history of sterilization. Their work is deeply informed by and grounded in a reproductive justice framework.
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