History
Jessica Elfenbein, Chair
The Department of History at the University of South Carolina strives to achieve the highest standards of excellence in both conventional and applied history fields. A traditionally excellent Southern history department is complemented by a strong faculty that provides graduates and undergraduates a wide variety of American, European, Atlantic World, Latin American, and non-Western fields and periods from ancient to modern, and themes from Science, Technology, and the Environment to Culture, Identity, and Economic Development (see the Department’s website for the most current listing of geographic and thematic fields).The public history program is among the best in the nation and prepares graduate students for the museum and historic preservation job markets.
Degree Programs
Degrees offered include the M.A. in History, M.A. in Public History, and the Ph.D. in History. In addition, a joint master’s program in library and information science and public history is offered. For more information visit: Public History / Library and Information Science, M.A. / M.L.I.S. The Department of History also oversees the Certificate of Graduate Study in Museum Management. Many Ph.D. students opt to take an M.A. in History or M.A. in Public History as they progress toward the Ph.D.
No more than 12 hours of courses in either the M.A. or PhD. programs may be taken at the 500-600 level. All other courses shall be at the 700 or 800 level. Courses taken at the 800 level may be repeated but only with permission of the Committee on Graduate Studies. Thesis or dissertation research and writing courses (799 and 899) may be taken as many times as deemed necessary by the student’s advisor and with the approval of the Committee on Graduate Studies.
Admissions
The history department admits students once a year, in April, although accepted students ordinarily begin work in the fall, with approval from the graduate committee, they may defer enrollment for up to one year. Completed applications shall be received by The Graduate School no later than January 7 of the year they are to be considered.
For the 2012-2013 academic year, there were 180 applicants for our graduate programs; 17 enrolled (ten in the Ph.D. program and seven in the M.A. in Public History program). This class has an average GRE score of 1345 (old scoring scale) or 312 (new scoring scale) on two of the three components of the exam and an average undergraduate GPA of 3.65.
Incoming Ph.D. students who hold a master’s degree from another university must complete all of our Ph.D. requirements or demonstrate that they have completed similar course work. The Graduate Committee normally takes previous graduate work in history into account, which may speed the student’s progress toward the doctorate.
Courses
Political, cultural, and economic ties which have linked the Middle East to the United States. Middle Eastern views of these relationships and their impact on modern Middle Eastern history.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Global Learning
Reading and research on selected historical topics. Course content varies and will be announced in the schedule of classes by title.
South Carolina since colonization.
Changes in the Southern region since 1940.
On-site introduction to historic preservation including research, interpretation, management, and economics of preservation. Offered only in Charleston during summer term.
Reading and research in selected historical subjects.
Restricted to graduate students in history.
Restricted to graduate students in history.
A consideration of the political, social, economic, and intellectual developments in the Roman world of the second century A.D.
Holy war and realpolitik in Mediterranean; East and West relations from the 10th through the 15th centuries.
The development of the French and English monarchies from the establishment of Normandy to the end of the Hundred Years' War.
Introduction to the field for students who intend to become professional historians. Covers debates concerning the writing of history with a focus on recent theoretical and methodological issues. Restricted to M.A. and Ph.D. students in history.
A detailed study of the history of England, 1485-1714.
A detailed study of the history of England, 1485-1714.
A reading course in the literature of British history since 1815.
A reading course in the literature of British history since 1815.
A reading course in art history, literature, and changing social thought in the 19th century.
A reading course in art, architecture, the cinema, literature, and social thought in the 20th century.
Readings in the political, social, economic, and cultural history of modern France.
The history of Russia from 1675-1855.
A reading course dealing with specific problems of modern Russian history.
Comparative study of the concepts and dynamics of empire and nation in 19th- and 20th-century Europe.
Selected topics in the development of the area in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Selected topics in the history of China from the founding of the Han Dynasty in 202 B.C. to the end of the Ming Dynasty in A.D. 1644.
A reading course on political, intellectual, and social changes in China resulting from the increased contacts with the West.
A reading and discussion of the analytical and critical literature on sport history.
Cross-listed course: PEDU 741
Reading course in the historical literature of the revolutionary era, including the 18th-century background.
Topics include the Meiji Restoration, industrialization, nationhood and nationalism, World War II, and postwar changes.
A reading course emphasizing political, intellectual, social, and religious movements in the Ottoman Empire and its successor states. Special attention to the growth of contacts between the Middle East and the West.
A study of the various factors which produced a breakdown of the democratic process in the United States and produced a domestic war.
This course will acquaint students with some of the secondary literature in African American women's history from the late nineteenth century through the twentieth century. The course examines the impact of race, gender, and class on the lives of black women and explores the historical relationship between African American women, work, family, community, and politics.
Cross-listed course: WGST 757
Introduction to theory and practice of historic preservation, taught in Columbia through on-campus classes, off-campus meetings with working professionals, and site visits around the Midlands.
A study of the Southern mind together with an investigation of such other aspects of Southern civilization as are clearly related to the mental life of the region.
A survey of the economic, social, and political development of the Southern region since 1876.
Readings in the social and political history of the United States in the period from Reconstruction to the First World War.
Selected research topics on the cultural, social, economic, and political roles and contributions of American women.
Cross-listed course: WGST 764
Readings in selected topics in Latin American history.
Cross-cultural study of history. Includes theoretical perspectives and cases from the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Cross-listed course: ANTH 773
Readings in the political, economic and social history of Mexico.
Analysis of the methodological, conceptual, and historiographical debates dealing with the social, political, and cultural process that linked the continents bordering the Atlantic Ocean from the 15th to the 19th century.
Comparative approaches to the methodological, conceptual, and historiographical debates of slavery and the African Diaspora in the Americas, 15th to the 19th century.
Readings in the political, economic and social history of Brazil.
Major military thought from the French Revolution to the present.
Museums as central places for the creation, presentation, and representation of human knowledge and enhancement of civic ritual in modern states. U.S. museums considered in international context.
Readings in the modern history of business in Europe and America.
Examination of theory and case studies highlighting current themes in cultural history. Topics may include memory, ethnicity and race, gender and sexuality, popular culture, and truth and objectivity.
Use of material culture by historians of modern Britain including the country house, food and drink, slums and suburbs, the seaside resort, and the public school.
Historical study of time-consciousness; how different modes of production have stimulated different forms of time-consciousness in American and other cultures.
Summer field school in the U.K. to provide comparisons with U.S. theory and practice in archives administration, museum management, and historic preservation.
Seminar in historical study of material culture; principal disciplinary and theoretical perspectives; emphasis on material culture of North America.
Cross-listed course: ANTH 787
A seminar in the historical study of buildings, the built environment, and cultural landscape.
An examination of the issues and problems in the interpretation of historic house museums and historic sites, with special emphasis on the development of an interpretive exhibit related to state and local history. Field trips.
The nature, value, and use of public and private archives; the principles and techniques for preservation, arrangement, description, and reference service for archives, personal papers, and historical manuscripts.
An introduction to and a synopsis of the editorial process, including canons of selection and textual criticism; the editorial commitment; annotation; preparing manuscript for the printer; and the one-person editorial project.
An examination of the preservation process, including the history of historic preservation, the development of preservation administrative systems, and preservation research methods and strategies. Field trips.
An intensive inquiry into the source materials of South Carolina and the unique problems associated with state and local history.
Course to familiarize M.A.T. students with the basic bibliographic aids and printed sources useful for the preparation of lectures.
Class time will be spent preparing a project that can be completed by faculty-supervised travel in the United States or abroad. Designed to be offered during summer sessions.
A course whose purpose is to acquaint students with the development of European historiography, schools of historical thought and interpretation. This course or HIST 797 is required of all history graduate students.
A course whose purpose is to acquaint students with the development of American historiography, schools of historical thought and interpretation. This course or HIST 796 is required of all history graduate students.
The application of historical skills in a sponsoring historical or public agency.
For master's candidates.
Writing seminar on selected historical subjects. May be repeated for credit as topics change.
Restricted to M.A. and Ph.D. students in history.
Restricted to M.A. and Ph.D. students in history.
Restricted to M.A. and Ph.D. students in history.
Restricted to M.A. and Ph.D. students in history.
Restricted to M.A. and Ph.D. students in history.
Restricted to M.A. and Ph.D. students in history.
Restricted to M.A. and Ph.D. students in history.
Restricted to M.A. and Ph.D. students in history.
Restricted to M.A. and Ph.D. students in history.
Restricted to M.A. and Ph.D. students in history.
Restricted to M.A. and Ph.D. students in history.
Restricted to M.A. and Ph.D. students in history.
Restricted to Ph.D. students in history.
The historical research process, including the definition of research, the determination, collection, and analysis of historical evidence.
The history and purpose of museums are examined. The basic management functions of museums and related cultural properties are considered.
Exhibition planning: research, writing, design, budgeting.
This course is an internship in an AAM accredited museum. Students work under supervision in a museum setting.
Independent study in museum practices.
Professional practice in collections management and care. Legal requirements and ethics of museum collecting. Curatorial collecting strategies and research.