Applied History Project

The mission of Harvard’s Applied History Project is to revitalize applied history by promoting the production and use of historical reasoning to clarify public and private challenges and choices. Founded by Professors Graham Allison and Niall Ferguson in 2016, the Applied History Project builds upon the foundation laid by Professors Ernest May and Richard Neustadt in the 1980s, reflected in their book Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision Makers. 

Advancing its mission, the Project sponsors the Applied History Working Group of faculty members across Harvard University to organize discussions with scholars and practitioners; supports historians and policymakers in producing Applied History; develops courses in Applied History; funds the Ernest May Fellowships in History and Policy for pre- and post-doctoral students; and holds Applied History Events open to the Harvard Community and the public. Harvard’s project is one of the leaders among a rapidly expanding network of universities and think tanks that are furthering the discipline of Applied History by clarifying predicaments and choices to inform better decisions.

The Project gratefully acknowledges the Stanton Foundation's generous support for its Applied History endeavors. 

Quote of the Week 

“The past is never dead; it’s not even past.” – William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun (1951) 

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Article of the Week 

“A Keynesian Solution to Global Imbalances” by Daire MacFadden, The Financial Times, May 10, 2026. 

“Every time the global monetary system faces stress, or countries are forced to make macroeconomic adjustments in response to the US financial cycle, the case for a neutral international currency reasserts itself,” MacFadden notes. Indeed, near the end of his term as Bank of England governor, current Canadian PM Mark Carney floated the idea of a “synthetic hegemonic currency” based on a basket of national currencies rather than the US dollar. MacFadden presents another solution from history: in 1944, John Maynard Keynes proposed an “International Clearing Union” (ICU) that would penalize trade imbalances and establish an international reserve currency called “bancor.”