History

Discover how people thought, lived, worked, played, loved, and struggled in the past. Puzzle over why societies, traditions, and ways of thinking change over time. Appreciate and interpret experiences of people around the globe from the ancient world to the present. Grasp the challenges of developing sound insights and understanding about the past.

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Nobel Prize-winning American novelist William Faulkner wrote, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." At Evergreen historical study comes alive in conversation with the present and in partnership with other Fields of Study.

History asks big questions. Why does change happen over time? What causes specific events to take place? Why does history matter? History also examines everyday human experience: private life and politics, gender and sexuality, immigration and citizenship, ideas and objects, family and public institutions, labor and leisure, identity and power.

Studying history promotes critical thinking about big questions — what has caused specific revolutions? What is the relationship between individual memory and history? How can artifacts help us understand people from the past? How can documents crafted by people in power reveal both the emergence of dominant cultures and be read subversively?

History challenges assumptions about how individuals and communities live and make meaning. Above all, history makes connections, interprets experience, discovers webs of meaning, and provides context for contemporary conflicts and problems.

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You will study history in tandem with:

• Literature
• Philosophy
• Cultural studies
• Creative writing
• Classics
• Archaeology
• Native Pathways
• Environmental studies
• and other fields

You'll learn to interpret evidence, create narratives, and develop sound arguments. You'll create historical knowledge yourself by doing research and interpreting what you find. Historical study will enrich your perspective in ways that will change your life.

Evergreen graduates with a history background have gone on to careers as lawyers, professors, teachers, librarians, archivists, museum professionals, journalists, fiction writers, and historians.

Historical studies prepares students, whatever their professions, to be thoughtful and engaged members of their communities with the ability to appreciate difference, nuance, and context.

Join us in an education that doesn't just change your life — it gives you the tools to change the world.

Sample Program

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Unmasking the Material World: Discovering Objects as Stories

Offered Fall 2018–Winter 2019

Over the last 70 years, we have witnessed a tremendous pop-culture interest in items categorized as vintage, antique, or classic, inspiring a profitable market. Things people find in thrift stores, flea markets, and Ebay carry with them the stories of the past. Through bringing these objects into our daily lives, we can discover connections between of people of the past lived and what is meaningful to us today. 

We'll take day trip to several local sites, including the Museum of History and Industry, the Squaxin Island Museum, thrift shops, the local shopping mall, and the local dump and recycling center to learn about the stewardship of objects as cherished artifacts, coveted consumer goods, donations, and waste. 

You'll examine how objects and values mutually construct each other by reading ancient and modern works and by developing your own essays and creative pieces.

View this program in the catalog.

After Graduation

The analytical, research, and writing skills developed in the study of history are a strong preparation for many fields. Many have continued their education with advanced degrees, both in history and in related fields such as classics and archaeology, European studies, American studies, and creative writing.

Evergreen graduates with a history emphasis have gone on to careers as lawyers, teachers, librarians, archivists, museum professionals, journalists, and historians.

Historical studies prepares students, whatever their profession, to be thoughtful and engaged members of their communities with the ability to appreciate difference, nuance, and context.

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Facilities & Resources

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The Library

Evergreen's collection is tailored to support your research with more than 400,000 items including article databases, books, periodicals, films, games, and more. Faculty librarians provide research assistance. You also have access to materials from libraries in the Pacific Northwest and from around the world. Learn more about the library.

Washington State Archives

Students with an interest in Washington state history have convenient access to the state's main archive in downtown Olympia. State archives include papers of all governors and all official records of the state. Find out about the Washington State Archives.

Recent Student Projects

Evergreen students presented papers at the annual Northwest Undergraduate Classics Conference at Willamette University in 2013 and 2015.

• Elizabeth Ferrington, 2013: “From Birth to Burial: Girls and the Control of Sexuality in Ancient Greece.”
• Allegra Radcliffe, 2013: “Midwifery and the Plebeian Woman in the Roman Empire.” Allegra is traveling to Greece this summer to present a paper on dance in the late 18th and early 19th century in Greece at the Messolonghi Byron society's annual conference.
• Alexander Witherspoon, 2015: “Hanno: an Inquiry and Commentary.” He was the only first-year student presenting at the conference.

Faculty

See faculty who teach in History.