• Lang students in a classroom learn about xenophobia.

    History

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    Admission Contact
    Office of Admission
    Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts
    79 Fifth Avenue, 5th floor
    New York, NY 10003
    Phone: 212.229.5150 or
    800.292.3040
    lang@newschool.edu

    Program Contacts 

    Chair
    Federico Finchelstein (fall 2023)
    Professor of History
    finchelf@newschool.edu

    Departmental Faculty Advisor
    Amanda Bellows

    History Faculty Member
    bellowsa@newschool.edu

    Student Success Advisor for History
    Chris McElderry
    Assistant Director of Student Success Advising at Lang
    clmcelderry@newschool.edu
    646.909.2260

  • Virtual Tour

  • In the History program at Lang, you learn how to think historically by exploring diverse eras and regions, conflicts and struggles, and dreams and disasters from the past. A focus on critical reading, original research, and writing trains you to communicate important ideas to a range of audiences and prepares you to succeed in diverse fields and careers. All your learning stresses the importance of understanding the past—what has been or could have been—in building a better future.

    • Study Options Major, Minor

    As a history student, you gain the knowledge and analytic skills needed to learn and grow in diverse fields of today's global economy. You learn to pose and answer big questions, research the past to understand contemporary events, and appreciate the many ways that history informs public debates. Seminars expose you to key concepts through which scholars and others have sought to make sense of the past. And through original research, you engage a wide range of sources - textual, visual, material, and digital - and synthesize them to draw insights and conclusions.

    You can choose from seminars spanning diverse topics, including:

    • the history of capitalism
    • intellectual, social, cultural, and political history
    • histories of gender and sexuality
    • the history of race and class formation
    • the history of science, technology, and the environment

    Numerous courses also address New York's history and connect you to the city's rich cultures, institutions, and communities.

    Major requirements

    Minor requirements

    Connecting to New York City

    While it offers the atmosphere and intimacy of a small college, Eugene Lang College is part of The New School, a major progressive university in New York City. With access to many the finest museums, libraries, and archives in the world, and we treat New York City as a source, resource, and educational laboratory. Our students and faculty make use of local history and local historical institutions in their coursework, in original research, and in a variety of internships.

    Career Paths

    History majors have gone on to graduate school in diverse disciplines and have pursued careers in law, politics, economics, journalism, and international relations, working in nonprofit organizations, museums, and public history projects.

    Consult our 4-Year Lang Career Pathways Map (PDF) for helpful steps and resources to link your academic journey to your future plans. If you are planning to pursue graduate studies, consider applying to the Bachelor's-Master's program, which enables you to earn graduate credits that will apply to both your Lang degree and a master's degree in Historical Studies at The New School for Social Research.

    Outcomes at Lang

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Submit your application

Undergraduates

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

Undergraduate Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Graduates

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

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