Department of History Archives - News Center

Archival photo of two water fountains next to each other. The larger one has a plaque above it reading "white" and the smaller fountain has a sign that reads "colored," illustrating American illiberalism.

Society & Culture

Steven Hahn ’73 on America’s illiberal past and present

October 31, 2025

From eugenics to segregation, the Pulitzer Prize winner says America’s ‘darker impulses’ run deep.

Crop of a black and white archival image of William Hauser smiling at the camera.

William Hauser, professor emeritus of history, remembered

Hauser was devoted to teaching Japanese and East Asian history over a career of nearly four decades.

Wide angle shot of Remote Bermuda island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Society & Culture

Historic Bermuda reshapes our understanding of colonial America

November 21, 2024

Smithsonian Magazine highlights the role of a Rochester historian and archaeologist in unearthing Bermuda’s colonial origins.

looping video of glacier ice melting and dripping.

Society & Culture

On thinning ice

September 11, 2024

A pair of Rochester historians are chronicling the history of the world’s glacial regions—and human responses to their rapid disappearance.

Medieval era-style illustration of two women during the Middle Ages looking at a solar eclipse while stars twinkle in the night sky.

Society & Culture

Surprising facts and beliefs about eclipses during medieval and Renaissance times

Rochester experts offer historical insights into medieval society’s fascination with astronomical and astrological phenomena.

Pablo Sierra Silva sits and gestures while teaching among a couple of students seen from behind.

Pablo Sierra Silva: Using primary sources to immerse students in the past

The history professor leads his class back in time to analyze events that shaped today’s world.

Close up of a framed photo of Alexei Navalny, who led one of the recent opposition movements against Vladimir Putin, surrounded by flowers during a nighttime vigil after reports of his death.

Society & Culture

Why did Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have to die?

February 19, 2024

Rochester experts discuss Putin’s intense fear of critics, the history of Russian and Soviet opposition movements, and what’s next for Russia’s dissidents.

Two students on opposite sides of the room looking through surveying equipment.

Unearthing the history of Bermuda’s old capital

Each spring, Rochester undergraduates conduct archaeological fieldwork, unearthing and preserving Bermuda’s rich history.

painting of an 18th century ship in a storm, with the sky both red and dark.

Society & Culture

A colonial history: Jamestown, Plymouth and, yes, Bermuda

In a new book, Rochester historian Michael Jarvis argues that Bermuda belongs at the center, not the periphery, of the American colonial story.

New award sends humanities graduate students abroad

December 13, 2022

Four Rochester doctoral candidates will research in archives in a dozen countries as recipients of the Meliora Global Scholars grant.