History

Classes 2023 & 2024

All majors in history must take at least 9 credits in history that fulfill the following requirements:

1. They complete at least 6 of their 9 credits at Swarthmore. Only one credit from AP/IB will count toward the 9 credits required for the major. (Read more about our External Credit Policies.)
2. They take at least one course or seminar at Swarthmore from each of the following categories: (a) before 1800 (including Ancient History courses) and (b) outside Europe and the United States, specifically Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Near East. This distribution requirement encourages students to explore various fields of history and engage in comparative historical analysis. Students must use different courses or seminars to fulfill this requirement. (Find what courses meet our Distribution Requirement.)
3. They complete the culminating project, HIST 091 Senior Research Seminar .  

Class of 2025 and beyond

All majors must take at least nine credits (six credits must be taken at Swarthmore) in History that fulfill the following requirements:

• One introductory course (001-010; first-year seminar, survey)
• One credit in historical methodology & theory-preferably taken before the senior year (History 1E; 1R; 28; 32; 63; 67; 67T; 77; 78; 80C; 83; and 84)
• Four courses in one Concentration that focus on more than one geographic region or time period. Please note that not all concentrations may be met over a two- or three-year cycle. It is crucial that majors consult closely with the chair of the department to identify courses that satisfy a concentration. Only one of the four courses can be done outside the Department of History.
  • Concentrations: Capitalism; Culture & Identity; Domination & Resistance; Empire & Nations; Gender and Sexuality; Migration, Diaspora and Space; and Science, Medicine, and Environment
• Three other credits in History
• HIST 091 Senior Research Seminar  must be taken in the Fall semester of the senior year. Students cannot take this course CR/NC.

Acceptance Criteria

Admission to the Department as a course major or minor normally requires a B average in at least two history courses taken at Swarthmore and a satisfactory standard of work in all courses. Courses in Ancient History (ANCH) offered by the Classics  Department count toward the two-history-courses prerequisite. The Department reserves the right to withhold evaluation of applications submitted after the deadline. If after applying a student is deferred, the Department will review their application at the end of each semester until the student is either accepted into the major or withdraws their application.

Acceptance Criteria

Admission to honors is selective and based on an evaluation of the student’s potential to do independent work and to contribute to seminar discussions. A minimum grade of B+ in at least two history courses taken at Swarthmore and a record of active and informed participation in class discussions are required of all students entering seminars. In addition, recommendations from the Department faculty members who have taught the student are solicited.

Sophomores hoping to take history seminars in their junior and senior years should give special thought to the seminars that they list in their Sophomore Plans. Seminar enrollments are normally limited to 10. If you are placed in a seminar at the end of your sophomore year, you will be one of 10 students guaranteed a space and you are, in effect, taking the space of another student who might also like to be in the seminar. Consequently, you should not list any seminar in your Sophomore Plan without being quite certain that you intend to take it if you are admitted.

Honors students are expected to maintain a B+ average to continue attending honors seminars and being an honors student.

Requirements

Students designing a special major in History and Educational Studies must take six courses in history, including one course in a field other than the United States or Europe (see Distribution Requirements). To graduate with a major in History and Educational Studies, a student must also complete our culminating exercise, HIST 091 Senior Research Seminar . With permission, students can complete a two-semester, two-credit thesis (but one credit of this thesis must be HIST 091 Senior Research Seminar ). Special majors in History and Educational Studies will work with both an Educational Studies faculty member and the HIST 091 instructor(s) to complete their one-credit senior research paper or two-credit thesis.

Acceptance Criteria

Admission to the Department as a special major follows similar requirements as course majors. Advisers in each Department should be consulted when designing a plan.

Teacher Certification

History majors can complete the requirements for teacher certification through a program approved by the state of Pennsylvania. For further information about the relevant set of requirements, please refer to the Educational Studies  section of the Catalog.

Introductory Courses: Surveys and First-Year Seminars (001-010)

These courses serve as a gateway to the major by introducing students to the discipline of history and fostering their ability to think, read, and write historically. They prepare students for upper-division courses, which are predicated on previous exposure to coursework in history.

Surveys provide broad overviews of particular times and places in the historical past, but they all focus on major issues of interpretation, analysis of primary sources, and historical methodology. First-year seminars (History 001A-001Z) are limited to twelve students and explore specific historical issues or periods in-depth in a seminar setting.

Historical Methodology & Theory Courses

These courses enable students to explore the question, “how do we know the past,” through a close examination of “how we do history.” The relationship between knowledge about the past and the practices of history writing is interrogated through courses on specific methods (e.g., oral history), theories (e.g. political economy), and analytical frameworks employed in various fields of history. By approaching the study and writing of history as a socially-, culturally-, and historically-embedded practice, students will gain a deeper understanding of how knowing the past is conditioned by our approaches to the past.

Please note that many Methodology & Theory courses also satisfy Concentration requirements.

Upper-Division Courses (011-099)

Upper-division courses are categorized by concentrations that provide depth and breadth to the study of history and address key topics and themes that occupy the attention of historians. Cutting-edge historical scholarship tends to fall into at least one of the following concentrations: Capitalism, Culture & Identity, Domination & Resistance, Empire & Nations, and Science & Medicine.

Please note that some upper-division courses also satisfy the requirement for a methodology or theory course.

Senior Research Seminar (History 91)

All majors must complete HIST 091 Senior Research Seminar , which provides students the opportunity to employ their skills as historians as they write an extended essay based on primary and secondary sources. This course-which counts as one of the required nine credits-satisfies the College’s requirement that all majors have a culminating exercise and is only offered during the fall semester. The Department encourages students to consult faculty members about their topics by the end of their junior year and select their topic prior to the first meeting of the Senior Research Seminar. Juniors are also strongly encouraged to apply for summer research fellowships through the Division of Social Sciences.

We encourage students to use the rich collections of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection and Friends Historical Library, both located in McCabe Library. The Peace Collection houses an unparalleled collection of antiwar and disarmament materials, including those of many prominent social activists. The Friends Historical Library possesses one of the richest collections of manuscripts and printed source material on Quaker history. The holdings of other institutions in the greater Philadelphia area, such as the Hagley Museum and Library (Wilmington, DE), the Library Company of Philadelphia, and the American Philosophical Society, are also accessible to the student-researcher. In addition, we encourage students to use online archival collections such as the National Security Archive.

Double-Credit Seminars (100+)

Double-credit seminars are small courses in which students take responsibility for discussions of the material on the syllabus. The instructor helps facilitate discussions but does not necessarily take a leading role in the learning process. These seminars tend to focus on specific fields of historical inquiry such as gender and sexuality in the United States; slavery; reform and revolution in Latin America; the Enlightenment and European intellectual history; political economy of the Modern Middle East; supranational institutions in Europe; colonialism in Africa; women and gender in China; and the Russian revolution.

Entry into double-credit, honors seminars must be requested through the Department Chair. Our honors seminars are open to students’ applications usually after they have taken two history courses and earned grades of B+ or higher.

Language Attachment

Certain designated courses offer the option of a foreign language attachment, normally for 0.5 credit. Arrangements for this option should be made with the instructor at the time of registration.