The faculty of the Department of History are internationally recognized scholars and teachers. They are committed to the highest caliber of research and publishing while maintaining the engagement with students and excellence in teaching for which Tulane University is justly renowned.
Emeriti Faculty
George L. Bernstein gbernst@tulane.edu
Emeritus Faculty (Ph.D., Chicago, 1978)
George L. Bernstein specializes in 19th and 20th century Britain, especially political history and the development of Liberalism.
Emily Clark eclark@tulane.edu
Emeritus Faculty (Ph.D., Tulane, 1998)
She specializes in early American and Atlantic world history, with a focus on the French Atlantic. Her research interests include slavery, race, gender, religion and historical memory.
Sylvia R. Frey frey@tulane.edu
Emerita Faculty (Ph.D., Tulane, 1969)
Sylvia R. Frey specializes in Colonial and Revolutionary America; U.S. political traditions and institutions; women and religion.
Carole Haber chaber@tulane.edu
Professor Emeritus (PhD, Pennsylvania, 1979)
Dean Emeritus, Tulane School of Liberal Arts, 2008-2018
Carole Haber is a specialist in American medical and social history, with particular interests in aging and death in the nineteenth century. She has written several books including Beyond Sixty-Five: The Dilemma of Old Age in America’s Past; Old Age and the Search for Security; and Key Words in Sociocultural Gerontology. She has also served as a consultant on aging for NBC, BBC, NPR, the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Aging.
Kenneth Harl kharl@tulane.edu
Emeritus Faculty (Ph.D. Yale University, 1978)
Professor Harl specializes in Ancient History. He has published widely on history and numismatics, most extensively on the Imperial Roman coinage.
Richard B. Latner latner@tulane.edu
Emeritus Faculty (Ph.D., UW Madison, 1972)
Richard B. Latner specializes in Jacksonian America; Sectionalism and Civil War; Salem Witchcraft, and Digital Humanities.
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Colin M. MacLachlan
Emeritus Faculty (Ph.D., UCLA, 1969)
Colin M. MacLachlan has held many outstanding posts at Tulane, including that of John Christy Barr Distinguished Professor. His specialty is Latin America social history, and he has authored many landmark books and articles on Brazil and Mexico, as well as on the Spanish Empire. MacLachlan's latest book is Imperialism and the Origins of Mexican Culture (Harvard University Press, 2015). His current interest is in environmental history, especially the comparative study of rivers.
Lawrence N. Powell powell@tulane.edu
Emeritus Faculty (Ph.D., Yale, 1976)
Before his retirement, Lawrence Powell was the James H. Clark Endowed Chair in American Civilization. He specialized in Civil War and Reconstruction; Southern history; Louisiana history and politics; and the Holocaust. From 1998 to 2000 he was Director of Tulane's Campus Affiliates Program (CAP); from 2000 to 2005 he was Executive Director of the Tulane/Xavier National Center for the Urban Community, and from 2010 to 2012 he directed the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South.
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Susan Schroeder sschroe@tulane.edu
Emerita Faculty (Ph.D., UCLA, 1984)
Susan Schroeder is the France Vinton Scholes Professor of Latin American Colonial History Emerita. She specializes in the social history of the Native Americans of Colonial Mexico, particularly in the Nahuas as marginal intellectuals. Her special interest is the philological study of Nahuatl-language documents.
Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr. woodward@tulane.edu
Emeritus Faculty (Ph.D., Tulane, 1962)
Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr. specializes in Latin America with an emphasis on post-independence Central America.
Gertrude M. Yeager tyeager@tulane.edu
Emerita Faculty (Ph.D., Texas Christian, 1975)
Gertrude Yeager specializes in Latin American social and political history, Spanish South America, and women and gender.
In Memoriam
Colin McKay MacLachlan 1934-2023
It is with deep sadness we record that Colin died peacefully in his sleep on February 17, 2023, in Sedona, Arizona of kidney failure after months of disability. He was a distinguished historian of both Luso and Latin America, with broad intellectual interests and a very lively scholarly curiosity combined with a deep interest in others. Colin was an effective undergraduate teacher in his 38 years at Tulane, bringing the histories of Mexico and Brazil to life for generations of students, but graduate training was his real forte. Under his tutelage, 22 graduate students gained their PhD and almost all of them have gone on to positions as history professors. As the accompanying statements by his students reveal, he was a superb mentor: helpful, insightful, and challenging. He pushed his students to produce the best dissertation they could and did so with humanity, grace, and humor. His students remain deeply appreciative of the privilege of working under his guidance.