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


Feb 27, 2025

Of Fossil Fuels and Families: How the Oil Industry Shaped Ideas of Race and Poverty in Caribbean Europe

Lecture at GHI Washington | Speaker: Chelsea Schields (UC Irvine)

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Mar 27, 2025

Nonprofit Neighborhoods: How the U.S. Privatized the Fight against Urban Inequality

Lecture at GHI Washington | Speaker: Claire Dunning (University of Maryland, College Park)

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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


Call for Papers

North American Narratives of Crisis and Repair, Past and Present

Deadline: February 15, 2025 | International Summer Academy at GHI Pacific Office | July 16-23, 2025

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New Publication

Fall 2024 Bulletin (74) issue published and available for download

The latest issue of the Bulletin is now available online for download as well as in print.

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Fellowship

Visiting Fellowships at the GHI

Deadline: January 10, 2025 (deadline extended) | The GHI is now accepting applications for its 2025-2026 visiting fellow program for European and…

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Video

Watch recording of our event "After Life: The Legacy of Discontinued International Organizations in the 20th Century"

If you were unable to watch our event "After Life: The Legacy of Discontinued International Organizations in the 20th Century" live, it is now…

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Call for Papers

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

Deadline: December 8, 2024 | International Conference at the German Historical Institute Washington, October 9-10, 2025

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