The location of our university in the nation's capital enriches the study of history in ways that go far beyond the obvious benefits for those who specialize in U.S. history.
Washington, D.C., is a city of global consequence that offers resources on a global scale. Our connections with embassies, libraries, museums, archives, and international academic and cultural organizations give our students unparalleled access to research opportunities, documents, artifacts and experts whose specialties span a broad scope of history.
At all levels – undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral – Washington offers many opportunities for internships and other real-world experiences, and our alumni achieve a wide variety of D.C.-based careers: in business and government, media and technology, non-profits, and libraries and public history. On the doctoral level, for example, a higher proportion of our recent Ph.D. alumni work in service to the nation – as public historians in executive-branch or military historical offices, or as analysts or managers for the federal government – than almost any other history doctoral program can boast.
Learn more about graduate career pathways.
Libraries and Resources
- The Library of Congress
- Catholic University Rare Books and Special Collections
- Catholic University Oliveira Lima Library
- Catholic University American Catholic History Research Center
- The Folger Shakespeare Library
- Dumbarton Oaks
- Washington Research Library Consortium
- Catholic University Early Christian Studies
- German Historical Institute
- Goethe Institut
- Alliance Française
- Kiplinger Historical Library
- Department of Agriculture Language Courses
- National History Center
- American Historical Association
Museums
- African American Civil War Memorial Museum
- Anacostia Community Museum
- Archives of American Art Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery
- Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Art Museum of the Americas
- Arts and Industries Building
- Corcoran Art Gallery
- Dumbarton Oaks
- Ford's Theatre
- Freer Gallery of Art
- Hillwood Estate Museum and Gardens
- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
- International Spy Museum
- Madame Tussauds
- National Air and Space Museum
- National Archives Museum
- National Building Museum
- National Gallery of Art
- National Geographic Museum
- National Guard Memorial Museum
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- National Museum of African Art
- National Museum of American History
- National Museum of American Jewish Military History
- National Museum of the American Indian
- National Museum of Natural History
- National Museum of the U.S. Navy
- National Portrait Gallery
- National Postal Museum
- National Women's History Museum
- Newseum
- Renwick Gallery
- Smithsonian Institution
- The Phillips Collection
- The President Woodrow Wilson House
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- United States National Arboretum