A formative scholar of early modern British history, Paul Seaver was also known for his decades of leadership and commitment to undergraduate education.
As Confederate monuments and memorials are toppled across the United States, Stanford historian James T. Campbell says it is important to think historically not only about the past but also about our own time and what future generations might say about us.
When the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, it was a call for the right to statehood rather than individual liberties, says Stanford historian Jack Rakove. Only after the American Revolution did people interpret it as a promise for individual equality.
In a graduate seminar taught by Stanford medical anthropologist S. Lochlann Jain, students examined how previous epidemics – such as yellow fever, smallpox, polio and AIDS – can illuminate the social dynamics and politics of the era.
Stanford historian Clayborne Carson thinks Martin Luther King Jr. would urge today’s activists to clearly articulate the goals and objectives of their protest.
The inability of 14th-century medicine to stop the plague from destroying societies throughout Europe and Asia helped advance scientific discovery and transformed politics and health policy, says Stanford historian Paula Findlen.
On the 75th anniversary of World War II ending in Europe, Stanford historian James Sheehan discusses the challenges that persisted and the legacies that remained at the end of the war.
Throughout recorded history, pandemics have been effective levelers of social and economic inequality – but that might not be the outcome this time around, says Stanford historian Walter Scheidel.
With the U.S. anticipating an economic downturn not seen since the Great Depression, historian David M. Kennedy reflects on how that calamitous event was a watershed moment in U.S. history and transformed American institutions.
Stanford historian Kathryn Olivarius discusses her research into antebellum New Orleans and how the yellow fever epidemic shaped the region economically and socially – at a devastating and deadly cost.
Joel Cabrita’s research explores the politics of memory and the question of who gets remembered and who gets forgotten by history. It’s a theme that has captivated her since childhood.
Students from the class Global Black Feminism invited community members to an open house at Green Library to view archival materials related to underrepresented Black women who fought for civil and women’s rights across the world.
In the immediate years after World War II, Josef Stalin sought a more flexible, geostrategic approach to advancing Soviet interests abroad, according to Stanford historian Norman Naimark.
Despite extensive records of the history of Rome, little is known about the city’s population over time. A new genetic history of the Eternal City reveals a dynamic population shaped in part by political and historical events.
On the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Ronald Reagan’s former speechwriter shares what inspired those now famous words and how they were almost cut from the speech.
Contrary to many published narratives, China’s Cultural Revolution was a rebellion that unfolded from within the party state, with party cadres seizing power from their superiors, Stanford sociologist finds.
In a new class, called Medieval Fantasy Literature, students examined the origins of dragons, witches and other fantastical creatures by reading a series of ancient works.
Stanford’s archive on film pioneer Spyros Skouras has expanded to include more than 120 hours of audio recordings and rare documents about his life and Hollywood career as well as his philanthropic efforts, such as raising foreign aid for World War II.
Two Stanford historians discuss how the United States’ Declaration of Independence became one of the pillars of American civic life and other lesser-known historical facts about what happened on July 4, 1776.
Stanford historian Tom Mullaney’s interactive website, The Chinese Deathscape: Grave Reform in Modern China, shows the locations of thousands of gravesites that have been relocated in China over the past two decades.
A new online course explores Ludwig van Beethoven’s music and development as a composer. The class, led by music historian Stephen Hinton, features performances by and discussions with the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Stanford's ensemble-in-residence.
One hundred and fifty years ago on May 10, 1869, university founder Leland Stanford drove the last spike that marked the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad.
Researchers with Stanford’s Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project detail the story of Chinese migrants who helped construct the First Transcontinental Railroad.
Home villages of Chinese migrants who traveled to the United States and other countries during the 19th century are being excavated for the first time through a project led by Stanford anthropologist Barbara Voss with Chinese scholar Jinhua “Selia” Tan.
More than 160 years ago, Lim Lip Hong left China and immigrated to the United States, where he helped build the Central Pacific Railroad, overseen by Leland Stanford. Today Lim’s great-great-great-grandson Michael Solorio is a junior at Stanford.
Stanford’s Ian Morris says the issues that led to Brexit, Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, have come up throughout British history, since rising sea levels separated the country from the continent 8,000 years ago.
Stanford’s first ethnic studies program celebrates its 50th anniversary by bringing leading scholars in black studies to campus for a conference in April.
