History

Department Website

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. 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.

Programs

Courses

HIST 504 - Spatial Approaches to Historical Research (3 Credits)

Introduction to the application of spatial thinking and methods to historical questions.

HIST 562 - The Middle East and the United States: 1800 to the Present (3 Credits)

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

HIST 599 - Topics in History (3 Credits)

Reading and research on selected historical topics. Course content varies and will be announced in the schedule of classes by title.

HIST 600 - Approaches to Global History (3 Credits)

Examines historical approaches to world and global history from various places, time periods, and positionalities.

HIST 601 - Science, Technology, and Environment: A Historical Introduction (3 Credits)

Examines in the intersections of science, technology, environment and human societies in history.

HIST 640 - South Carolina History (3 Credits)

South Carolina since colonization.

HIST 641 - The American South Comes of Age (3 Credits)

Changes in the Southern region since 1940.

HIST 692 - Historic Preservation Field Experience--Charleston, S.C. (3 Credits)

On-site introduction to historic preservation including research, interpretation, management, and economics of preservation. Offered only in Charleston during summer term.

HIST 700 - Topics in History (3 Credits)

Reading and research in selected historical subjects.

HIST 701 - Reading Seminar in Colonial American History (3 Credits)

HIST 702 - Reading Seminar in American History, 1789-1876 (3 Credits)

HIST 703 - Reading Seminar in American History since 1876 (3 Credits)

HIST 704 - Reading Seminar in Ancient History (3 Credits)

HIST 705 - Reading Seminar in Medieval History (3 Credits)

HIST 706 - Reading Seminar in Early Modern European History (3 Credits)

HIST 707A - Reading Seminar in Modern European History, 1789-1900 (3 Credits)

Restricted to graduate students in history.

HIST 707B - Reading Seminar in European History, 1900-Present (3 Credits)

Restricted to graduate students in history.

HIST 708 - Reading Seminar in Russian and East European History (3 Credits)

HIST 709 - Reading Seminar in British History, 1500-1815 (3 Credits)

HIST 710 - Reading Seminar in British History since 1815 (3 Credits)

HIST 712 - Reading Seminar in Special Fields (3 Credits)

HIST 713 - The Age of the Antonines (3 Credits)

A consideration of the political, social, economic, and intellectual developments in the Roman world of the second century A.D.

HIST 715 - The Crusades (3 Credits)

Holy war and realpolitik in Mediterranean; East and West relations from the 10th through the 15th centuries.

HIST 716 - Normandy, France, and England, 911-1453 (3 Credits)

The development of the French and English monarchies from the establishment of Normandy to the end of the Hundred Years' War.

HIST 720 - Introduction to the Study of History (3 Credits)

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.

HIST 721 - England Under the Tudors and Stuarts (3 Credits)

A detailed study of the history of England, 1485-1714.

HIST 722 - England Under the Tudors and Stuarts (3 Credits)

A detailed study of the history of England, 1485-1714.

HIST 725 - Modern British History (3 Credits)

A reading course in the literature of British history since 1815.

HIST 726 - Modern British History (3 Credits)

A reading course in the literature of British history since 1815.

HIST 727 - European Intellectual History, 1815-1900 (3 Credits)

A reading course in art history, literature, and changing social thought in the 19th century.

HIST 728 - European Intellectual History, 1900-1960 (3 Credits)

A reading course in art, architecture, the cinema, literature, and social thought in the 20th century.

HIST 729 - France since 1815 (3 Credits)

Readings in the political, social, economic, and cultural history of modern France.

HIST 730 - Russia from Peter the Great to Nicholas I (3 Credits)

The history of Russia from 1675-1855.

HIST 731 - Russia, 1855-1930 (3 Credits)

A reading course dealing with specific problems of modern Russian history.

HIST 732 - European Diplomatic History, 1870-1914 (3 Credits)

HIST 733 - Contemporary Europe (3 Credits)

HIST 734 - Empire and Nation in Modern Europe (3 Credits)

Comparative study of the concepts and dynamics of empire and nation in 19th- and 20th-century Europe.

HIST 735 - State and Society in Eastern Europe (3 Credits)

Selected topics in the development of the area in the 19th and 20th centuries.

HIST 739 - Readings in Pre-Modern Chinese History (3 Credits)

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.

HIST 740 - China and the West, 1840-1949 (3 Credits)

A reading course on political, intellectual, and social changes in China resulting from the increased contacts with the West.

HIST 741 - Readings in the Social History of Sport (3 Credits)

Reading and discussion of the critical and analytical literature on sport history.

Cross-listed course: PEDU 741

HIST 744 - French Revolution and Napoleonic Era (3 Credits)

Reading course in the historical literature of the revolutionary era, including the 18th-century background.

HIST 745 - Readings in Modern Japanese History (3 Credits)

Topics include the Meiji Restoration, industrialization, nationhood and nationalism, World War II, and postwar changes.

HIST 748 - The Middle East and North Africa, 1798-1962 (3 Credits)

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.

HIST 752 - Readings in American Colonial History (3 Credits)

HIST 753 - The Coming of the Civil War, 1815-1860 (3 Credits)

A study of the various factors which produced a breakdown of the democratic process in the United States and produced a domestic war.

HIST 754 - Rise of Industrialism (3 Credits)

HIST 755 - Contemporary United States (3 Credits)

HIST 756 - United States History, 1800-1850 (3 Credits)

HIST 757 - African American Women in Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (3 Credits)

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

HIST 758 - Capital City Field School: Theory and Practice of Historic Preservation (3 Credits)

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.

HIST 761 - Southern Intellectual and Cultural History (3 Credits)

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.

HIST 762 - The New South (3 Credits)

A survey of the economic, social, and political development of the Southern region since 1876.

HIST 763 - Victorian America (3 Credits)

Readings in the social and political history of the United States in the period from Reconstruction to the First World War.

HIST 764 - History of American Women (3 Credits)

Selected research topics on the cultural, social, economic, and political roles and contributions of American women.

Cross-listed course: WGST 764

HIST 765 - Readings in American Diplomatic History, 1776-1914 (3 Credits)

HIST 766 - Readings in American Diplomatic History, 1914-present (3 Credits)

HIST 770 - Latin American History (3 Credits)

Readings in selected topics in Latin American history.

HIST 772 - Exploring Ethnohistory (3 Credits)

Cross-cultural study of history. Includes theoretical perspectives and cases from the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Cross-listed course: ANTH 773

HIST 773 - History of Mexico (3 Credits)

Readings in the political, economic and social history of Mexico.

HIST 774 - Atlantic World History, 15th to 19th Century (3 Credits)

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.

HIST 775 - Comparative History of Slavery in the Americas from the 15th to the 19th Century (3 Credits)

Comparative approaches to the methodological, conceptual, and historiographical debates of slavery and the African Diaspora in the Americas, 15th to the 19th century.

HIST 776 - History of Brazil (3 Credits)

Readings in the political, economic and social history of Brazil.

HIST 777 - Theory and Methodology of Religious History (3 Credits)

Examines theoretical and methodological approaches to religious history.

HIST 778 - Global History of Capitalism: Approaches and Issues (3 Credits)

Examination of how scholars conceptualize capitalism as a historical economic system, in comparative and connective global context; scrutinizing of explanations for the rise of global capitalism and development of its key features, from pre-modern to modern times.

HIST 780 - Readings in Modern Military Thought (3 Credits)

Major military thought from the French Revolution to the present.

HIST 781 - History and Theory of Museums (3 Credits)

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.

HIST 782 - Business History (3 Credits)

Readings in the modern history of business in Europe and America.

HIST 783 - History and Theory (3 Credits)

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.

HIST 784 - Modern British Material Culture (3 Credits)

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.

HIST 785 - Comparative History of Time (3 Credits)

Historical study of time-consciousness; how different modes of production have stimulated different forms of time-consciousness in American and other cultures.

HIST 786 - Comparative Applied History, U.S. and U.K. (3 Credits)

Summer field school in the U.K. to provide comparisons with U.S. theory and practice in archives administration, museum management, and historic preservation.

HIST 787 - Material Culture Studies (3 Credits)

Seminar in historical study of material culture; principal disciplinary and theoretical perspectives; emphasis on material culture of North America.

Cross-listed course: ANTH 787

HIST 788 - Memory, History, and Space (3 Credits)

A seminar in the historical study of buildings, the built environment, and cultural landscape.

HIST 789 - Historic Site Interpretation (3 Credits)

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.

HIST 790 - Archival Administration and Techniques (3 Credits)

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.

HIST 791 - Historical Editing (3 Credits)

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.

HIST 792 - Historic Preservation (3 Credits)

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.

HIST 793 - State and Local History (3 Credits)

An intensive inquiry into the source materials of South Carolina and the unique problems associated with state and local history.

HIST 794 - Research for Teaching (3 Credits)

Course to familiarize M.A.T. students with the basic bibliographic aids and printed sources useful for the preparation of lectures.

HIST 795 - Special Topics: Study Travel in History (1-6 Credits)

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.

HIST 796 - European Historiography (3 Credits)

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.

HIST 797 - American Historiography (3 Credits)

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.

HIST 798 - Internship in History (3 Credits)

The application of historical skills in a sponsoring historical or public agency.

HIST 799 - Thesis Preparation (1-9 Credits)

For master's candidates.

HIST 800 - Topics in History Research (3 Credits)

Writing seminar on selected historical subjects. May be repeated for credit as topics change.

HIST 801 - Research Seminar in Colonial American History (3 Credits)