• Women Employees at Bethlehem Steel circa WWII.
     Women Employees at Bethlehem Steel circa WWII.
  • at Bethlehem Steel circa WWII
    Women employees at Bethlehem Steel circa WWII
  • Compare this image with the next image which shows the canal under construction.
    The Delaware Canal: Compare this image with the next image which shows the canal under construction.
  • Compare this image with the previous image which shows the finished canal.
    The Delaware Canal Under Construction: Compare this image with the previous image which shows the finished canal.
  • Although fascinating, the mistaken juxtaposition of the Brooklyn Bridge and the types of ships in this image indicate the artist's ignorance of marine history at the time he constructed this image.
    Artist's Conception of 19th Century New York Harbor: Although fascinating, the mistaken juxtaposition of the Brooklyn Bridge and the types of ships in this image indicate the artist's ignorance of marine history at the time he constructed this image.
  • Published by Lippincott, Grambo and Co. Philadelphia.
    Interview of Hendrick Hudson with the Indians. Published by Lippincott, Grambo and Co. Philadelphia.
  • Published by Lippincott, Grambo and Co. Philadelphia.
    Indians in Council. Published by Lippincott, Grambo and Co. Philadelphia.
  • Published by Lippincott, Grambo and Co. Philadelphia.
    Dakotah Village. Published by Lippincott, Grambo and Co. Philadelphia.
  • Note Lehigh University on the bottom of the map, center right.
    19th Century Map of South Side Bethlehem/Fountain Hill: Note Lehigh University on the bottom of the map, center right.
  • A Bethlehem classroom circa WWII
     A Bethlehem classroom circa WWII
  • Women employees at Bethlehem Steel circa WWII
     Women employees at Bethlehem Steel circa WWII
  • When Bethlehem Steel flourished, its is said that the sky could be dark at noon. Note the steel stacks in full operation and their smoky effect over the whole image.
    Early 20th Century View of Lehigh University with Linderman Library in the Foreground, Bethlehem Steel in the Background: When Bethlehem Steel flourished, its is said that the sky could be dark at noon. Note the steel stacks in full operation and their smoky effect over the whole image.
  • This drawing of Lehigh University shows the main buildings of the original campus.
    19th Century Drawing of Lehigh Campus: This drawing of Lehigh University shows the main buildings of the original campus.
  • Note the sea dragon off the western shore of what would be Central America.
    Ancient Map of the World: Note the sea dragon off the western shore of what would be Central America.

Welcome

The department, like the university as a whole, combines two models: the liberal arts college, strongly committed to undergraduate education, and the research institution, dedicated to the creation of new knowledge.   Small class sizes and the opportunity for individualized instruction mean that students have contact with a distinguished research faculty.  We offer students a bachelor of arts degree, as well as a masters and a doctoral degree.  In addition, the Lehigh history department offers both undergraduate and graduate students a concentration in public history, designed to provide the skills to make history accessible to the public in settings like museums, historical societies, and other non-profit institutions.

We are proud of the department’s history as the intellectual home of Lawrence Henry Gipson (1880-1971) a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian.  His legacy at Lehigh University can be found in a continued interest in the scholarship of colonial American and the Atlantic World, and in the Gipson Institute, an active sponsor of scholarship and campus programs on eighteenth-century history.  In addition, overlapping clusters of faculty have strong research and teaching interests in the areas of technology, gender, environment, industrialization, cities, and culture.