RETHINKING HISTORY - CHANGE IN THE UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM, 1910-90

On the basis of descriptions in the course catalogs of 24 public unive rsities from 1910 to 1990, this article describes several transformati ons in the university history curriculum and argues that they reflect the ongoing rationalization and institutionalization of nation-states and citizens. The remarkably consistent trends in the history curricul um are (1) the dramatic long-term expansion of the coverage of geograp hic areas, (2) the small long-term contraction in the coverage of peri ods, and (3) the striking and recent expansion in the coverage of subg roups.