Rutgers History Department

08/08/2026

Today we are highlighting a course that Professor Sukhee Lee, a leading expert in the history of China and East Asia, is teaching at Rutgers this Fall 2026.

08/07/2026

Over the next week the Rutgers History Department will be highlighting some of the stimulating courses we will offer in Fall 2026. Don't miss a chance to take a course with Professor Belinda Davis, a leading expert on 20th-century European history and German history.

08/07/2026

If you are in Chicago on August 20, 2026, don't miss Rutgers History Department doctoral student Sydney Smith's discussion of her research.

08/06/2026

Our Rutgers History Department colleague, Dr. Jamie Pietruska, an expert on betting and prediction markets, is quoted in this disturbing article in The Guardian on the practice of betting on wildfires.

Experts say growing trend on sites such as Polymarket and Kalshi could motivate people to start fires to win money

07/13/2026

Check out the special issue of the American Historical Review (AHR) celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence by featuring the stories of diverse objects, from George Washington’s epaulets to shoe scraps from the Philadelphia almshouse.

Rutgers History professor Kristin O'Brassill-Kulfan's essay on a Philadelphia Almshouse Shoe Scrap is included in the collection.

https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/131/2/741/8724470

07/13/2026

This is your chance to take a course with Dr. Alastair Bellany. Whether you are a history major or any other major at Rutgers, this course is sure to be illuminating and important.

07/09/2026

Congratulations to these members of the amazing team of professionals who help administer the Rutgers History Department: Candace Walcott-Shepherd, Kate Rizzi, Kenny Linden, and Jessie Chan. All four were recognized by the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) at Rutgers this month.

07/01/2026

Enjoy this interview with Kristin Canzano Pinyan, Rutgers History PhD, about her work as an instructional designer and educator. There are so many interesting things one can do with a History Ph.D.!

How does SRM maintain quality at scale? Sr. LXD Kristin Pinyan shares how the project lead model and contractor relationships shape outcomes.

06/30/2026

Don't miss "Declarations: Black Americans and the Revolutionary War," now streaming on PBS. Rutgers History faculty member Dr. Leslie Alexander and Rutgers History PhD Dr. Adam McNeil (now at University of Notre Dame) are both featured in the documentary.

Uncover the stories of Black Americans who fought to define democracy during the Revolution.

06/19/2026

Congratulations to Julia Bowes, Rutgers History Ph.D. 2018, on the publication of her book Every Man's Home a Castle.

Dr. Bowes' book explores the emergence of parental rights as a conservative movement spurred by the presumed right of white men to govern their homes.

Every Man's Home a Castle by Julia Bowes is now available worldwide.

Learn more: https://hubs.ly/Q04lKgl10

“Parental rights” is a rallying cry for today’s American conservatives, signaling opposition to mandatory vaccination and “woke” public school curricula. In Every Man’s Home a Castle, Julia Bowes traces the origins of the modern parental rights movement to the nineteenth century, when the introduction of compulsory schooling laws, child labor regulations, and vaccine requirements provoked a resistance rooted in the presumed right of white men to govern their homes. A wide-ranging coalition—including Irish Catholic immigrants in Illinois, Mormon enclaves in Utah, and Protestant clergy in Virginia—believed that the state had usurped the “natural rights” of parents and “invaded the home.”

The emergence of parental rights as a conservative movement spurred by the presumed right of white men to govern their homes