Welcome to the History Department

The History Department provides advanced professional education in preparation for a variety of careers. Traditionally, historians have worked in academic settings as scholars and teachers, or in closely related institutions such as libraries, archives, and museums. Increasingly, however, advanced education in history is being regarded as broad-based humanistic training, equipping students with research capabilities, writing skills, analytical methods, and communications skills that are useful in many fields. The department welcomes students who wish to teach in secondary schools, community colleges, and four-year universities, as well as students who intend to pursue non-teaching careers.

The History Department offers three programs: the MA in History, the MA in History & Archival Studies, and the PhD in History. Faculty members specialize in U.S. and European history while drawing upon faculty in other departments at CGU and throughout The Claremont Colleges, resulting in a faculty equivalent to that of a much larger university. Instruction is carried on in seminars, classes are small, and the favorable student-faculty ratio allows for a considerable amount of individual attention from professors.

Students in the MA or PhD programs may choose one of the following interdisciplinary concentrations: American Studies, Early Modern Studies, European Studies, Hemispheric & Transnational Studies, Media Studies, or Museum Studies. Students work with faculty advisors in planning their course of study. The department encourages breadth of study irrespective of a student’s major field, including transdisciplinary work.

The shared resources of The Claremont Colleges and broader Los Angeles community give our graduate students a competitive advantage to those at other schools. Housing more than 2 million volumes, the Libraries of The Claremont Colleges provide excellent research facilities and resources. The Huntington Library, one of the world’s finest research libraries for English and American history, is in nearby San Marino.


In the spring of 2024, university administrators at campuses across the United States called on local and state police forces to deal with protestors on university campuses. The American History Association (AHA) issued a statement urging everyone involved to learn from history and avoid the often predictable escalation that comes with the use of police to deal with student protests. As a department, we express our support and agreement with the AHA’s position on the rights of students, faculty, and staff to gather, speak, debate, and protest. The full AHA statement can be viewed here: https://www.historians.org/news-and-advocacy/aha-advocacy/aha-statement-on-2024-campus-protests-(may-2024)


Chair: JoAnna Poblete
143 East Tenth St • Claremont, CA 91711 • 909-607-9327

JoAnna Poblete profile image

JoAnna Poblete

Professor of History
John D. and Lillian Maguire Distinguished Professor in the Humanities
Chair, History Department

 

Programs

 

Core Faculty

Matthew Bowman profile image

Matthew Bowman

Associate Professor of Religion and History
Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies

Joshua Goode profile image

Joshua Goode

Professor of Cultural Studies and History
Chair, Cultural Studies Department

Romeo Guzmán profile image

Romeo Guzmán

Assistant Professor of History

JoAnna Poblete profile image

JoAnna Poblete

Professor of History
John D. and Lillian Maguire Distinguished Professor in the Humanities
Chair, History Department

 

Research Faculty

David Cressy profile image

David Cressy

Research Professor of History

Gideon Manning profile image

Gideon Manning

Research Associate Professor of Early Modern Studies

 

Affiliated Faculty

David Luis-Brown profile image

David Luis-Brown

Associate Professor of Cultural Studies and English

Linda Perkins profile image

Linda Perkins

University Professor
Director, Applied Gender Studies

Extended Faculty

Shane Bjornlie

Claremont McKenna College

Research Interests

Late Antique history, Roman history


Myriam Chancy

Scripps College

Research Interests

African diaspora with specialization in its literature


Lily Geismer

Claremont McKenna College

Research Interests

20th century liberalism in the United States, Fair housing, Liberal religion and politics


George Gorse

Pomona College

Research Interests

Italian Renaissance art and architecture, Italian Baroque art and architecture, Medieval art history, History of cities, palaces, villas, and gardens, History of Genoa


Daniel Livesay

Claremont McKenna College

Research Interests

Early American and Atlantic history; Race, family, and slavery in North America and the Caribbean


Charles Lofgren

Claremont McKenna College

Research Interests

American Constitutionalism, American founding, Constitutional law, Military history, War and foreign relations


Susan Barndt McWilliams

Pomona College

Research Interests

Political Theory, History of Political Thought, American Political Thought, Politics and Literature, Civic Education, Liberal Arts Education and the Small Liberal Arts College


Char Miller

Pomona College

Research Interests

U.S. environmental policy, U.S. public-lands management, Western water politics, Immigration and border security, Urban politics and development, U.S. intellectual and cultural history


Harmony O’Rourke

Pitzer College

Research Interests

Cultural and social history of early modern and modern Africa, Global diasporas, Gender and sexuality, West Africa, Slavery, Colonialism, Oral history


Albert Park

Claremont McKenna College

Research Interests

Design & architecture, East Asian history & political economy, Korean history, Modern Japanese history


Ralph Rossum

Claremont McKenna College

Research Interests

American Constitutionalism, American Founding, Constitutional Law, Crime and Criminal Justice, Indian Gaming Issues, Redistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights


Victor Silverman

Pomona College

Research Interests

U.S. History, Alcohol and Drug Studies, History of Sexual/Gender Minorities, The Cold War, Labor Unions, International Labor Movements, U.S. and Britain, San Francisco Bay Area History, California History, Sustainable Development Policy

Current Graduate Students

Dissertations in Progress


Hilary Blum
PhD Candidate

Dissertation Title

The Public Need to Know: Public Relations, Public History, and Secrecy at the Hanford Nuclear Site


Kerri Dean
PhD Candidate

Dissertation Title

(re)Imagining the Evergreen: an Environmental and Cultural History of the American Christmas Tree

Dissertation Committee

Janet Brodie, Joanna Poblete, Char Miller


Katrina Denman
PhD Candidate

Dissertation Title

“Real Merit and Sound Scholarship”: Women and the Profession of History in England, 1840-1915


Lisa Matthews
PhD Candidate

Dissertation Title

Mourning at Mount Vernon: Memory, Commemoration, and Thanatourism in the Creation of 19th century American Identity

Dissertation Committee

Matthew Bowman (chair), Daniel Livesay, Joshua Goode


Tim Werlinger
PhD Candidate

Dissertation Title

Nationalism and Racial Self-Identity in late 19th Century Ireland

 

Graduate Students


Cindy Aragón
MA Student

Research Interests

20th-century United States, Chicano history, oral history, immigration, social movements, public history, museum studies


Ryann Chapman
MA Student

Research Interests

Premodern Asian History, Polynesian History, Tattoos and Body Modification as Historical Sources


Diana Guadalupe Correa-Vela
MA Student

Research Interests

Public History, Chicano/a history, Archival studies, Museum Education, History Curriculum in K-12 schools, and Art History


Robert Cristo
PhD Student

Research Interests

Chicano/a/x History, Indigenous History, U.S History and Latin American History.


Natalie Flores-Rios
MA Student, History and Archival Studies, Museum Studies Concentration

Research Interests

Women’s History, American History, Early Modern Studies, Women Writers


Alhanouf Foudah
PhD Student

Research Interests

European history and middle eastern international relations


Jordan Freed
MA Student

Research Interests

United States History


Sarah Galvez
MA Student

Research Interests

The voting rights of Women in Western States in the late 19th century, pre-19th Amendment (Ratified in 1920). I look at women gaining the right to vote and women representation in government. California voters passed rights for women to vote in October 1911.


Alisa Belinkoff Katz
PhD Student

Research Interests

History and Policy – California and the West


Yuda Li
MA Student

Research Interests

Global History, the Silk Road


Chelsea Liu
MA Student

Research Interests

Asian American Studies, Gender and Sexuality, Archival Studies


Sara Long
PhD Student

Research Interests

Museum Studies, Cosmetic History, Oral History, American History


Tony Marinoff
PhD Student

Research Interests

History of Christianity; Religion in America; History of Christian Thought; Continental Philosophy; History of Political Thought


Tony Monica Martinez
MA Student

Research Interests

Public History, Archival Studies, California History, American Civil War, Afro-Latin American History


Ascenett Martinez-Lopez
PhD Student

Research Interests

Spanish Civil War, Modern European History, Intellectual History


Ignacio Emerio Anaya Minjarez
MA Student

Research Interests

Border studies, Mexico-United States relations, Mexican Revolution


Kylee Mock
MA Student

Research Interests

Public History, Colonial North America, Early Modern Europe


Jacob Ovenshire
MA Student

Research Interests

East Asian History, Reception Studies, Archival Studies


Stephen Reed
PhD Student

Research Interests

Political History, Labor, Immigration


Enrique Salas-Limon
MA Student

Research Interests

Middle Eastern and North African History, Diaspora, Immigration


Cassidy Sharp
PhD Student

Research Interests

Environmental History, California History, History of Science


Wipawee Srifa
PhD Student

Research Interests

Cold War, Women’s Studies, Oral History, Museum Studies


Tomasz Stanek
PhD Student

Research Interests

Holocaust studies, intellectual history, Pacific studies, modernist literature circa 1900 Europe.


Daniel Talamantes
PhD Student

Research Interests

Environmental Anthropology, Animal-Human Relations, Environmental History, Queer Theory, Diaspora, Ethnic Studies, California


Lenora Wannier
PhD Student

Research Interests

History of the Book, Textual Mobility Across Early Modern Europe and New Spain, Biography

Research Project

 


Oral History Program Archive

Learn More

Part of the History Department of Claremont Graduate University since 1962, the Oral History Program Archive collects research material by conducting interviews with persons whose life experiences merit preservation.