Albert Bushnell Hart and the Origins of Social Studies Education

Abstract

Abstract Albert Bushnell Hart was a leading figure during a critical period in the development of history education in the United States. Throughout his career as a professor of history and government at Harvard University (1883–1926), he made many contributions, arguably more than anyone else of his generation, to history's emergence as a modern school subject and to its inclusion as a core component of the school curriculum. In doing so, he helped fashion the door through which social studies subsequently entered the schools. His career, therefore, offers an interesting and enlightening perspective on both the theoretical and institutional foundations of social studies education