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 

“There can be no question that generalizations about the past, defective as they may be, are possible—and that they can strengthen the capacity of statesmen to deal with the future.” – Arthur Schlesinger, War and the American Presidency (2004)

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Article of the Week 

“Here are the real chances of militants giving up their guns” – Keith B. Richburg, The Washington Post, October 21, 2025.

Richburg casts doubt on peace efforts in two international hotspots—Gaza and Haiti—because disarming militant groups, as both the Gaza ceasefire and the UN’s Haiti mission aim to do, has a poor historical track record. For example, despite agreeing to disarm during negotiations, warlords in Somalia and Khmer Rouge splinter groups in Cambodia resisted peacekeepers sent to retrieve weapons in the 1990s. Rare successes, such as an Australian-led campaign in East Timor in 1999, teach that disarmament succeeds “when it’s part of a broader deal that will give the ex-fighters a future role in the army or in government.”