Catholic University’s Department of History and Anthropology is a community of scholars – professors, graduate students, and undergraduates – dedicated to their passion for exploring the human experience in the past and present.

The disciplines of History and Anthropology have been part of Catholic University since almost the beginning of the university’s own history. Beginning as early as 1892, the university offered courses on church history, but very quickly branched out to teach European and American history as well.  In 1904, the Department of History was established within the School of Philosophy. The Department of Anthropology was founded 30 years later, among the first in the United States. The two departments’ experiences over the decades have mirrored those of the university, of Washington, and of the nation and the world.

 After many years of collaboration, the Department of History and Department of Anthropology were brought together in the 2025 reorganization of the College of Arts and Sciences. The new department remains true to its shared core mission: a commitment to the best professional standards in academia, and a particular dedication to the application of faith and reason to the study of the human experience in all times and places. The department is proud of its human scale, its culture of open doors and easy access, and its spirit of active engagement between faculty and students.  It is equally proud of the award-winning professors who have taught in the department through the decades, and of the students it has sent on to success along pathways too numerous to count.