Department of History

Bedlam in the New World: A Mexican Madhouse in the Age of Enlightenment

A rebellious Indian proclaiming noble ancestry and entitlement; a military lieutenant foreshadowing the coming of revolution; a blasphemous, Creole embroiderer in possession of a notebook filled with pornographic content. These individuals all shared one thing in common. During the late 18th century, they were deemed to be mad and were forcefully admitted to the Hospital de San Hipólito in Mexico City, the first hospital of the Americas to specialize in the care and confinement of the mentally disturbed. In her current book-in-progress, “Bedlam in the New World,” Faculty Fellow and historian of medicine Christina Ramos reconstructs the hospital’s history, as well as the lives of some of its most notorious patients who fell afoul of the Inquisition and secular criminal courts, to write a new history of madness during the Age of Enlightenment.

2.20.20 | Read the Story

Amarteifio addresses members at a monthly Meeting, 1956

Graduate

Tracking the history of women’s welfare work in Ghana

Adwoa Opong, a PhD student in history at Washington University and the first McDonnell International Scholar from the University of Ghana, researches the history of women’s social welfare work in Ghana after the Second World War, a history that she says became entangled in the politics of decolonization when Ghana declared its independence.

1.11.20 | Read the Story

Alumni

Five questions with Yael Fuchs ('98)

An interview with Yael Fuchs (AB, '98), now a lawyer with the New York State Attorney General's office.

10.11.19 | Read the Story

About Our Department

We engage our students through the study of the past. We are committed to the idea that the most compelling stories are often the most revealing ones. In addition to teaching students the particular skills of historical inquiry, we provide them with tools that serve them beyond their majors and beyond the university.

The discipline of history poses challenging questions about the ways that human beings have made the worlds they live in. There are many approaches to history. Some historians study politics, whether that means political parties or the ways that people who never held public office nonetheless act to shape public life. Others study the lived experience of everyday Americans or the popular culture that reflects how people understand the world around them. Still others are especially interested in the kinds of stories about the past that we tell ourselves, for those stories reveal a great deal about our own society and about earlier times. While it is not true that history repeats itself, it is true that without knowledge of the past we are unable to understand the present.

Some history majors go on to pursue graduate work in the field and become professional historians, but most find that the knowledge and skills they build through history courses fit them for a wide range of careers. Our graduates have attended law or medical school, and have pursued careers in government, education, research, business, communications, international agencies, publishing, museums and archives, public advocacy and many other fields.