History of the Americas & Transatlantic History

From an initial focus on North American history and the history of the transatlantic relations, the GHI has broadened the scope of its core research agenda to encompass the Americas as a whole. Its long engagement with the histories of the United States, Canada, and North American-European ties is the point of departure for its new initiatives in the history of the Americas. GHI-supported projects are exploring the myriad entanglements linking the societies of North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean to each other and societies across the globe. The interconnections of the Atlantic and Pacific worlds are focal point of the research program of the GHI’s Pacific Regional Office in Berkeley.

Photo Credit: Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, 1995. © Nam June Paik Estate, SAAM

Team


Projects


German Heritage in Letters

German Heritage in Letters is a project to create a digital collection of German-language correspondence currently held in private hands, by archives, by special collection libraries, museums, and other institutions.

Events & Conferences


Apr 29, 2025

Liberalism and Illiberalism in American History

Online Panel Discussion | Speakers: Jane Dailey (University of Chicago) and Steven Hahn (New York University); moderated by Frank Biess (University of California, San Diego)

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May 01, 2025

Credit's Histories: Debt, Loans, and Welfare in the Twentieth-Century United States

Lecture at GHI Washington | Felix Krämer (Universität Erfurt)

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Jul 16, 2025

North American Narratives of Crisis and Repair, Past and Present

International Summer Academy at the GHI Pacific Office Berkeley | Conveners: Heike Paul (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg), Axel Jansen (GHI Washington), Sarah Beringer (GHI Washington), and Dr. Christoph Straub (Bavarian American Academy )

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Sep 10, 2025

Universities and the Public Good: Research, Education, and Democracy since 1945

Workshop and Young Scholars Forum at Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover, Germany | Conveners: Charles Dorn (Bowdoin College, Maine), Axel Jansen (German Historical Institute Washington), Charlotte Lerg (Amerika-Institut, LMU München), Till van Rahden (Centre canadien d’études allemandes et européennes, Université de Montréal), and Richard F. Wetzell (German Historical Institute Washington)

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Oct 09, 2025

The Campus and Beyond: Higher Education and Social Inequalities in Europe and North America, 1850s-2000s

International Conference at the German Historical Institute Washington | Conveners: Raphael Rössel (GHI Washington), Elizabeth Tandy Shermer (Loyola University Chicago), and Stefanie Coché (Gießen University)

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Publications


Bulletin 73 (Spring 2024)

Forum: Antisemitism and Sexualities

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Maximilian Klose

Why They Gave: CARE and American Aid for Germany after 1945

Transatlantische Historische Studien. Band 63. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2024.

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Jan C. Jansen & Kirsten McKenzie, eds.

Mobility and Coercion in an Age of Wars and Revolutions

Publications of the German Historical Institute. Cambridge University Press, 2024.

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Bulletin 72 (Fall 2023)

Forum: The German Treatment of Soviet Prisoners of War During The Second World War

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Bulletin 70 (Fall 2022)

Forum: Rethinking Cross-Border Connections

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Anna Corsten

Unbequeme Erinnerer: Emigrierte Historiker in der westdeutschen und US-amerikanischen NS- und Holocaust-Forschung, 1945–1998

Transatlantische Historische Studien. Band 62. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2022.

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Bulletin 69 (Fall 2021 & Spring 2022)

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Latest News


Fellowship

GHI Fellowships at the Horner Library

Deadline: May 12, 2025 (deadline extended) | Together with the German Society of Pennsylvania, the GHI sponsors two to four fellowships of up to four…

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Alumni

Interview with Doctoral Visiting Fellow Jonathan Schlunck

We recently caught up with Jonathan Schlunck, one of our Visiting Fellows, who will be leaving us at the end of April. We sat down with him to discuss…

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Press Release

GHI Board Chair Stefan Rinke accompanies German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on a recent trip to Latin America

Prof. Dr. Stefan Rinke, chair of the GHI's Academic Advisory Board and a specialist in Latin American history at the Lateinamerika-Institut of the…

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Fellowship

Doctoral and Postdoctoral Research Fellowships

Deadline: April 15, 2025 | The GHI awards short-term fellowships to European and North American doctoral students as well as postdoctoral scholars to…

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Opportunities

Wissenschaftliche/n Mitarbeiter/in (w/m/d) mit einem Schwerpunkt in der Geschichte Lateinamerikas am Pazifikbüro des DHI Washington in Berkeley

Deadline: March 31, 2025 | The GHI Washington is hiring a Research Fellow in Latin American History for its Pacific Office in Berkeley

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