Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions

The Pitt Professorship of American History and Institutions was established at the University of Cambridge on 5 February 1944 from a sum of £44,000 received from the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press in 1943 and augmented by a further £5,000 in 1946. The title of the chair was changed to the Pitt Professorship of American History and Institutions in 1951.

The professorship is unusual in that tenure is for a period of one year only.

List of Pitt Professors of American History and Institutions

 * 1945–46           Dexter Perkins
 * 1946–47           No election
 * 1947–48           Henry Steele Commager
 * 1948–49           Roy Franklin Nichols
 * 1949–50           Walt Whitman Rostow
 * 1950–51           John Donald Hicks
 * 1951–53           Ralph Henry Gabriel
 * 1952–53           Avery Odelle Craven
 * 1953–54           Corwin D. Edwards
 * 1954–55           John Bartlet Brebner
 * 1955–56           William Thomas Easterbrook
 * 1956–57           Edward Chase Kirkland
 * 1957–58           Paul Abraham Freund
 * 1958–59           Richard Hofstadter
 * 1959–60           Eugene Victor Rostow
 * 1960–61           Clinton Lawrence Rossiter
 * 1961–62           Richard Palmer Blackmur
 * 1962–63           John Hope Franklin
 * 1963–64           John Morton Blum
 * 1964–65           Daniel Joseph Boorstin
 * 1965–66           Thomas Childs Cochran
 * 1966–67           Peter Michael Blau
 * 1967–68           James Willard Hurst
 * 1968–69           William Clement Eaton
 * 1969–70           Henry David
 * 1970–71           Walter Galenson
 * 1971–72           Henry Farnham May
 * 1972–73           Morris Janowitz
 * 1973–74           Eric Louis McKitrick
 * 1974–75           Archibald Cox
 * 1975–76           Robert William Fogel
 * 1976–77           Eugene Dominic Genovese
 * 1977–78           Paul Allan David
 * 1978–79           Stephan Thernstrom
 * 1979–80           Eliot Freidson
 * 1980–81           Eric Foner
 * 1981–82           Douglass Cecil North
 * 1982–83           Gordon Stewart Wood
 * 1983–84           Judith N. Shklar
 * 1984–85           Robert Huddleston Wiebe
 * 1985–86           Peter Temin
 * 1986–87           Bernard Bailyn
 * 1987–88           Daniel Bell
 * 1988–89           Warren Forbes Kimball
 * 1989–90           Nathan Rosenberg
 * 1990–91           Timothy Hall Breen
 * 1991–92           Vacant
 * 1992–93           Carol Gilligan
 * 1993–94           Michael Fitzgibbon Holt
 * 1994–95           Peter Gavin Wright
 * 1995–96           Dan Thomas Carter
 * 1996–97           John Shelton Reed
 * 1997–98           Sylvia R. Frey
 * 1998–99           Stanley Engerman
 * 1999–2000       James Tyler Petterson
 * 2000–01           Randall Collins
 * 2001–02           James L. Roark
 * 2002–03           Timothy W Guinnane
 * 2003–04           Daniel T. Rodgers
 * 2004–05           Michael Mann
 * 2005–06           Mary Beth Norton
 * 2006–07           Michael D. Bordo
 * 2007–08           J Mills Thornton
 * 2008–09           James T. Kloppenberg
 * 2009–10           Nancy A. Hewitt
 * 2010–11           Gary Libecap
 * 2011–12           Alan Brinkley
 * 2012–13           Jeffrey C. Alexander
 * 2013–14           David Blight
 * 2014–15           Barry Eichengreen
 * 2015–16           Margaret Jacobs
 * 2016–17           Loïc Wacquant
 * 2017–18           Ira Katznelson
 * 2018–19           Naomi Lamoreaux