Master of Arts in History
Program Highlights
The M.A. in History curriculum is professional in nature and is designed as preparation for the doctorate and numerous professional careers.
The historiography course, the three “readings” courses, and the two history electives will extend students’ undergraduate preparation in these areas, and the three primary-source-based, historical analysis courses will provide excellent preparation for archival analysis, visual history, material culture, oral history, and interdisciplinary research that, collectively, has become the hallmark of doctoral-level courses in history, as well as most doctoral dissertations.
To complete the program, students may elect to sit for a comprehensive exam (requiring two HIS 700 electives and HIS 760); or they may choose to write a thesis (requiring one HIS 700 elective, and HIS 770 and HIS 780).
Common Core
A common required core of seven courses:
- HIS 510: Historiography
- HIS 610: Readings in American History
- HIS 620: Readings in European History
- HIS 630: Readings in World History
- HIS 640: Visualizing History
- HIS 650: Oral History
- HIS 660: Handling History
The Curriculum
The M.A. in Public History requires the completion of the following courses for a total of 30 credits:
HIS 510: Historiography--Introduction to Research and Historiography
HIS 610: Readings in American History
This seminar, which covers central themes and developments from 1607 to the present, will focus on the growth of national identity, the founding and preservation of the American republic, the crucible of slavery and its aftermath, the rise of the United States as a military and industrial power, and the struggle to create an inclusive society.
HIS 620: Readings in European History
This seminar follows the contours of an advanced course in the development of Western Civilization. The seminar is divided into two segments: from antiquity to the Renaissance; and from the Renaissance to the modern era. Readings will focus on principal themes and developments in the following areas or disciplines: political and social; economic; religious; scientific; diplomatic and military; intellectual and cultural.
HIS 630: Readings in World History
While there will be appropriate selected readings taken from the classical civilizational cores of Egypt, Southwest Asia, India, China, and the Mediterranean, less studied areas (e.g., the Pre-Columbian Americas and Africa) will be examined as well. Much of the work will concentrate on the post-1500 world, generally—but by no means universally—agreed to be the true realm of global history. Political, social, economic, religious, and gender issues will be examined, with a particular emphasis on cross-cultural connections and patterns.
HIS 640: Visualizing History
Analysis of historical themes and topics (e.g., American immigration; 20th century American social and intellectual history; the Greco-Roman World; World Wars I and II) through readings, photography, painting, and film documentaries.
HIS 650: Oral History: Theory and Practice
Theme-based readings and practice in oral history (e.g., family history, labor and class history; gender history; African–American history; military history).
HIS 660: Handling History: Material Culture and Archival Analysis
Theme-based or chronologically-based readings complemented by analysis of material culture and archival research. (e.g., studies of the history of printing, deconstruction of broadsides, visits to the University Archives, lecturers from the Philadelphia Museum of Art).
HIS 700: History Elective: Titles vary.
Samples include “George Orwell: The Man and HIS Times”; “The Ordeal of Total War: World War II”; “England in the Late Middle Ages”; “China and Japan”; “Re-Imagining Colonialism and Imperialism”; “The Post-Colonial Condition”; “American Intellectual History.”
HIS 710: History Elective: Titles vary.
See History 700 (or related course in another La Salle University Graduate program).
HIS 760: Seminar: Integration and application of research strategies presented in core courses
HIS 770: Thesis Direction I
Supervised research for students writing the M.A. thesis.
HIS 780: Thesis Direction II
Supervised research for students writing the M.A. thesis.
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