History is an ideal instrument of liberal education. It develops analytical and communication skills and also fosters knowledge and understanding of the institutions, ideas, groups, and individuals which have shaped the political, social, and cultural world of humankind. Though historical study encourages critical thinking, it also engenders a sensitive understanding of the past, avoiding what one historian has called "the condescension of posterity" (E. P. Thompson, Making of the English Working Class, 1963 preface). As another historian reminds us, "the past is not some remote and abstract catalogue of names and dates, but the very fabric of individual [and social] identity" (J.C.D. Clark, Our Shadowed Present, introduction).

Though it is impossible to study all significant past peoples, events, and cultures, The Mount Allison History Department offers a rich variety of both subject matter and interpretive approach through individualized programs designed to achieve both coherence and depth. Courses are regularly available at all levels in most major periods of Canadian, American, European, and Asian history. Here one can study the human experience in all its rich diversity: class and gender, wealth and poverty, faith and science, self and social identity, government and politics, and war and peace.

The skills and rigor which the study of history imparts make it excellent preparation for many career paths: teaching, law, public administration, and politics, to name a few. More than this, with its breadth and depth, it contributes to responsible global citizenship in a free and humane world.