History
Historians study the past as a way to make sense of the present. Both in and out of the classroom, our faculty will work with you to discover and interpret historical materials with rigor and insight, allowing you to draw well-reasoned conclusions of your own. You will earn a bachelor’s degree in history while gaining expertise in writing, researching, critical analysis, and public speaking.
Why Choose a Degree in History?
We believe research is not just the collection of evidence, but a process of discovery that challenges us to question our assumptions and critically assess those made by others. You will become a historian in your own right, producing theses supported by the kind of intensive research, critical analysis, and careful writing that prepare you for a career in a wide array of fields, ranging from library management to foreign service, journalism to teaching.
What You’ll Study
We offer a major and minor. Our curriculum is global in scope, inviting students to compare the traditions of various cultures and countries.Our courses push students to develop sophisticated knowledge of the modern and premodern history of regions including the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Moreover, our emphasis on research and writing equips our students with skills appropriate to a wide range of pursuits. We also believe in collaborating with students on research projects—whether through classes during the academic year, a paid humanities research summer program, or both—and helping them find and secure internships or practica in Portland and beyond. Credit has been awarded for mentored work in such places as the Oregon Historical Society, the Nikkei Legacy Center, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Oregon Humanities, and Oregon Health & Science University.
Many of our students earn course credit while on an overseas program. In addition to general cultural programs that are open to all students, the England humanities program and the Greece program enable students to study the rich history and culture of these places on site.
Outside the classroom, our department offers a course at a nearby prison as part of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, in which Lewis & Clark students learn alongside minimum-security prisoners. For the Lewis & Clark Oral History Project, students interview alumni, creating recordings that are archived in Watzek Library’s Special Collections. The Throckmorton Lecture brings a renowned historian to campus each year to give a public lecture, visit classes, and have dinner with students.
Connect With Lewis & Clark!
Complement Your Education With One of These Minors
The most popular minors for our history majors are Middle East and North African studies, philosophy, and rhetoric and media studies.
What Students Are Saying About Lewis & Clark
Peter Smith BA ’24More about PeterI love knowing where things came from. History is all around us and our professors very much show this to be the case.
Blaise Harrison BA ’25More about BlaiseThe L&C history major is widely interesting and hard, and I highly suggest it to those who like to read and want to hone writing and analytical skills.
Maddie Selby BA ’25More about MaddieI believe my summer research with Professor Campion will give me greater insight into what career options may look like for me as a history student.
What Can You Do With a Degree in History?
Our alumni use their BA in history to pursue a wide range of careers within academia, nonprofits, historical societies, and beyond. While many of our graduates pursue advanced degrees in the field, others apply their critical thinking, research and writing skills, creativity, and literacy to areas other than history.
Dedicated Faculty
Our expert professors are your expert mentors. You will learn directly from faculty (no graduate assistants here!) that are nationally recognized in their fields of study and who love to work with and learn from their students. Your professors will inspire you to be a thoughtful and passionate participant in a diverse world. Your small classes will support you as you explore new ideas, find your voice, and speak your truth.
Our faculty members have been recognized for excellence in teaching and have won some of the country’s most prestigious writing awards.
Nancy O. Gallman More about NancyStudents at L&C think deeply about the universe—near and far—from multiple perspectives, while cultivating a noncompetitive atmosphere that encourages creativity and self-expression.
Elliott Young More about ElliottL&C students are truly engaged in learning and intellectually curious, and they want to make a difference in the world.
Gordon Kelly More about GordonThe liberal arts take students (and professors) outside their academic comfort zones and encourage them to engage the world from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.
Invest in Yourself
A private liberal arts education is often more affordable than you think. Last year, Lewis & Clark distributed over $74 million in assistance from institutional, federal, state, and private sources. Additionally, we’re so confident that our first-year students will graduate with their bachelor of arts degree in four years that if you don’t, we’ll cover the extra semester of tuition.
Find Your People
Students produce an annual newsletter, Footnotes, that updates fellow students, alumni, and others about department-related events both on and off campus. Project Runway: Historical Edition is a popular annual event in which student teams design fashion-forward outfits inspired by historical phenomena.
Where Lewis & Clark Will Take You
Aidan Bennett BA ’21More about AidanL&C offers plenty of intercultural and language-learning opportunities, opportunities to take on teaching and leadership roles, and chances to volunteer in the greater Portland community. All of these are things contributed to my strong Peace Corps application.
Glenna Gee-Taylor BA ’18More about GlennaAfter graduating from law school, I took the bar exam in Colorado and then spent my first year as a lawyer clerking for the Honorable R. Brooke Jackson, a federal district court judge in the District of Colorado.
Aaron Schimmel BA ’18More about AaronI spent the year after graduation as an English teach in a Jerusalem elementary school. After that I began a PhD in history at Stanford University, where I am currently working on a dissertation that focuses on Jews in the Russian Empire.
History Events
62nd Annual Arthur L. Throckmorton Lecture: Kären Wigen
Entering Asia: Cartography and the Continental Scheme in Tokugawa Period Japan
In a much-discussed editorial of 1885, a leading Tokyo journal called for Japan to “leave Asia” (datsu-A). But when did the Japanese enter Asia in the first place? One way to answer this is to trace the career of continents on their maps. Introduced to the Chinese-reading world by the Jesuits, the continental scheme appears to have gained little traction in the early Qing or Chosŏn contexts, but in Japan it became a standard feature of world maps and gazetteers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Even so, its contours and contents remained notably fluid. This talk will survey the various ways Japanese geographers represented continents and conceptualized their subdivisions, highlighting the imaginative syntheses created by Buddhist cosmologists and the reworking of Matteo Ricci’s categories by popular print-makers in the later Tokugawa decades.
