Nancy F. Cott takes helm of Organization of American Historians

Nancy F. Cott, Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History, has assumed the presidency of the Organization of American Historians (OAH). Cott, who has taught at Harvard since 2002, lectures on gender, sexuality, and marriage in the 19th and 20th centuries. The author of “Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation” (200) and “The Grounding of Modern Feminism” (1987), she is currently studying young Americans who worked abroad between the two world wars.

She has testified as an expert witness in the federal case Perry v. Schwarzenegger against Proposition 8 in California, and assisted in writing amici briefs on the same-sex marriage question in several states including challenges to the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

An elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cott is one of the founders of Yale University’s women’s studies program.

Her tenure as president of OAH began last month, and runs through 2017.