Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis (CHA)

The Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis (RCHA), an interdisciplinary research center of Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey, is an affiliate of the Rutgers, New Brunswick, History Department.

Founded in 1988, the RCHA provides a setting to discuss issues of broad contemporary relevance in historical perspective. Organizing its annual activities around major research projects, the Center each year welcomes several visiting senior and postdoctoral fellows chosen through an open, international competition, along with about ten faculty and graduate fellows from within Rutgers University.

Since its inception, the Center has hosted an international body of scholars drawn from a wide range of disciplines, including anthropology, economics, philosophy, literature, political science, and women's studies, in addition to history and art history. The Center joins the scholarly concerns of an advanced research institute with outreach programs in teaching and service appropriate for a public institution.

In addition to weekly seminars, the Center hosts a variety of public conferences and related cultural events, sponsors an Institute for High School Teachers, and provides space for visitors for the Rutgers British Studies Center.

Amenities

The RCHA is located in its own three-story building at 88 College Avenue (at College Ave. and Mine Street) near the main research library on the University's New Brunswick campus. The Center provides visiting fellows with office space equipped with personal computers, as well as the assistance of its staff. The building has copying and telefax equipment, E-mail and access to the Internet. The Rutgers History Department is located across the street and offers interaction with its sixty members, including scholars in virtually every historical period and all geographical areas. Fellows at the Center have access to all the facilities of Rutgers University, its libraries and also its social amenities.

Affiliates Fellows are invited to participate in all History Department activities including the History Faculty Forum, the Medieval and Early Modern Data Bank, the Women's History Group, and all graduate seminars and conferences. At the University level, there are opportunities to participate in the activities of other humanities and social science centers, including the Center for Cultural Analysis, the Center for Race and Ethnicity, the Institute for Research on Women, the Center for American Women and Politics, the Center for Women's Global Leadership, the Walt Whitman Center for the Culture and Politics of Democracy, and the Eagleton Institute of Politics. The New Brunswick campus is also the site of the Elizabeth Cady Stanton-Susan B. Anthony Paper Project, and Thomas A. Edison Papers Project, and the Center for History of Electrical Engineering.

Area Resources

The New Jersey-New York area is especially rich in scholarly resources. Fellows have easy access to the New York Public Library system and may apply for borrowing privileges at Princeton University's Firestone Library. Also of interest are the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies and the Institute for Advanced Study, both in nearby Princeton.