Why study history?

The study of history begins with questions, not answers. We seek to know what happened in the past, and we also seek to understand why.

As our present-day context raises new challenges for our communities, historians are inspired to ask new questions about the past, seeking understanding of a broad variety of human experiences. Historians explore questions about past politics and economics, intellectual developments, social concerns shaped by race, gender and class, and facets of culture ranging from arts and languages to human spaces and emotions. As a result, the study of history is dynamic, rather than static, and those trained in this discipline develop valuable skills in gathering, evaluating, connecting and interpreting factual information, and in the use of evidence to argue persuasively for their conclusions.

Learn more about what historians do and why employers value these skills.

News

Ryan Smith is interested in cemeteries as sources to understand the past and as important subjects in their own right. (Contributed photo)

May 22, 2023

VCU history professor Ryan Smith to explore ‘Liberty and Death in St. John’s Churchyard’ on May 25

Smith’s lecture will draw from his most recent book “Death and Rebirth in a Southern City: Richmond’s Historic Cemeteries.”

May 16, 2023

10 projects awarded funding from the VCU Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Fund

The fund awarded nearly $100,000 this year to faculty for research projects related to the arts, humanities and social sciences.

Students in the Curating Exhibitions graduate seminar, Nana Ferdnance (left) and Jenah Creecy (right), discuss objects during the set up of the art exhibition, “(Kin)dred Ties,” featuring MFA students' work. Seminar students Mary McLean and Kathryn Long are seen in the background. (Allen Jones, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)

May 5, 2023

Students curate fellow students’ work in new VCUarts exhibition

The exhibition offers history and museum studies graduate students some hands-on experience in spotlighting the work of their studio-based peers.

History Spotlight