Carleton College History Department

04/02/2026

DECLARE HISTORY BY APRIL 5!!

03/07/2026

Happy Comps day! Today we interviewed all our senior history majors to see what their comps were about. The Carleton history comps is essentially a 40-page thesis on any (historical) topic that you work on for about four months. All of these seniors have worked so hard and have created fantastic projects!

02/06/2026

Come join us Wednesday February 18 at 4:30pm (Leighton 305) for our winter Lefler lecture with Dr. Julie Reed titled “More than a student: Ayohka, co-creator of the Cherokee Syllabary, explorer of new educational worlds” and hosted by HIST298 with Professor Andrew Fisher. Dr. Reed will discuss the Cherokee syllabary distributed by Sequoyah, his daughter Ayohka, and wife Sallie for the education of a variety of Cherokee people in 1820. Dr. Reed focuses on Ayohka’s role in creating the syllabary in order to see how women and children contributed to Cherokee educational history.

Dr. Julie L. Reed is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She recently joined the History and Anthropology departments at the University of Tulsa and is currently completing archaeological training at Western Carolina University, supported by her Mellon New Directions Award. Her next project, “Sovereign Kin: A History of the Cherokee Nation,” supported by an NEH Collaborative Award, will be co-authored with historian Rose Stremlau. Her research focuses on the Native South, Indian Territory, and the history of American social welfare and educational history

01/17/2026

On Thursday, Professor Jie-Hyun Lim gave a lecture titled “Victimhood Nationalism: History and Memory in a Global Age” to the Carleton history department and some friends from the University of Minnesota. He discussed the manner in which memories of victimhood and sacrifice were entangled post the second word war from countries such as Poland, Korea, and Germany. Lim is the CIPSH Chairholder of Global Easts, Distinguished Professor, and founding director of the Critical Global Studies Institute at Sogang University in Seoul. In this academic year (2025-2026), he is the Class of 1955 Visiting Professor in Global Studies at Williams College.

01/05/2026

As we start the term, let’s reminisce on a great exhibit from this fall! Here is HIST100-05’s Exhibit “BLACK DEATH WREAKS HAVOC: Explore the Black Death in 14th and 15th century England and Egypt” with Professor Victoria Morse.

11/25/2025

Here's a follow-up from the Fairbault Daily News on the work Professor Austin Mason's HIST 308: Digital History, Public Heritage, and Deep Mapping class did for the Rice County Historical Society and the Alexander Faribault house.

The Alexander Faribault house holds iconic history that tells the tale of our old city, but access remains limited for some, from those who live too far away to those

11/19/2025

Professor Serena Zabin is part of the new Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt documentary series “The American Revolution”! We held a viewing party with Cinema and Media Studies (CAMS) which was such a great time. The documentary series is now available on PBS! Keep your eye out for Professor Zabin when you tune in!

11/13/2025

Students recently went to see the new Minneapolis Institute of Art exhibit “Royal Bronzes: Cambodian Art and the Divine” with Professor Cheryl Yin, Professor Seungjoo Yoon, and Professor Victoria Morse. This exhibit is in collaboration with the Guimet – National Museum of Asian Arts, France, and the National Museum of Cambodia.

“While Angkor’s monumental stone temples are world renowned, this exhibition highlights the empire’s exquisite bronze artistry—statues, ritual objects, and artifacts that reveal a fascinating blend of artistic mastery, religious devotion, and royal power.

Featuring more than 200 objects, including a colossal sculpture of the Hindu god Vishnu—a Cambodian national treasure—this exhibition offers an unprecedented look at Khmer bronze craftsmanship brought to light through recent archaeological discoveries. Witness the enduring legacy of Cambodia’s sacred metallurgical traditions and their profound cultural significance.” - MIA

11/13/2025

As fall comes to an end, Professor George Vrtis and his HIST100: American Wilderness class visited Nerstrand Big Woods state park to spend some time outdoors and talk about history on site! Here is Audrey Vesper ‘29 giving a talk about the falls.

11/13/2025

Come explore winter-term course offerings with Professor Antony Adler ‘06! He is teaching HIST 111: Uncharted Waters: The History of Society and the Sea and IDSC 258: Consensus or Contentious? Controversies in Science Then and Now.

11/07/2025

Halloween with MARS and history!! MARS put on a whole day of the Hobbit in Sayles with readers every twenty minutes. Plus many fun and on theme outfits!!!