The Department of History is as old as the College itself. In the year of its inception in 1844, the College offered the following courses: History, English, French, Latin, Greek and Philosophy. After its transfer to Tiruchirappalli, the College took special interest in strengthening the Department of History. B.A. course in History was introduced when the College was affiliated to the University of Madras. In 1911, when the College became an Arts and Science College an Honours course in History was introduced under branch V-I. It was in this year, the library stack room in the History section was flooded with primary sources such as Dispatches from the East India Company, Letters of Missionaries, Annual Reports of the Archaeological Survey of India, Inscription Manuals, Gazetteers, etc. But slowly the number of students opting to do this subject began to dwindle and so the Department was closed down, but the B.A. Honours course in History continued upto 1960. B.A. History was revived in 1977 and is being continued till date. The courses, M.Phil.in History in 1984, Ph.D. in History in 1989 and M.A. in Historywere introduced in 1994 respectively. At Present the department offers B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. programmes in History.
Its strong research orientation is very clear as it has produced 42 Ph. D. and 320 M.Phil. Scholars since 1977. And the faculty members have so far authored 16 books both in English and Tamil and have published 95 research papers on history and related areas.
The Department faculty regularly involve themselves in research, resulting in the completion of one Major Research Project, three Minor Research Projects and one Faculty Improvement Programme - all supported by both UGC and ICHR. The department had an MOU with the Southern Railways which sponsored a research project on "The History of Evolution of Rolling Stock in Indian Railways".It was successfully completed.There is one ongoing project work on "Implementation of MGNREGA". Individual Project Work for the third year UG students and final year PG students is mandatory.
With the financial support of the UGC, the Department has conducted an Add on Course on "Tourism and Hotel Management" and two Certificate Courses on "Human Rights" and "Tour Packaging".
The Department either hosts or organizes national or state level seminars and workshops sponsored by UGC, ICHR and CICT regularly. XXIII Annual Session of South Indian History Congress for three days; Ecological Movements and Sustainable Development for three days; Workshop on Research Methodology in History for three days; Trends in Higher Education; The Formation of Ideology, Identity and Collective Consciousness in India for three days; Right to Sustainable Development - Subaltern Perspective for two days; A three day seminar on "Contribution of the Sangam and Post Sangam Classics to Ancient Indian History"; A two day ICHR sponsored seminar on "Historians and Historiography of Tamil Nadu" are a few to mention.
The Department provides a better learning atmosphere with spacious class rooms, AV Hall, etc. There are two computers with internet connectivity and printing facility too in the department. With the view to enhance students" learning process, the department has established a well-equipped Library with 350 books, 30 Documentary CDs.
In order to encourage broader learning beyond regular syllabus among the students and scholars, the department organizes endowment lectures regularly. Five endowments were instituted in honour of the distinguished retired professors.They are Dr. T. Sundararaj Endowment Lecture, Dr. N. Arunachalam Endowment Lecture, Dr.M. Arumairaj Endowment Lecture, Rev. Fr. P. Susai, SJ Endowment Lecture and Dr. T. Sundararaj Research Endowment Lecture.
The department facilitates the students to engage themselves in intellectual deliberationsapart from regular contact hours by instituting different academic clubs. Dr. T. Sundararaj Intellectual Forum, Dr. C. VijayasinghStudy Circle, Dr. N. Arunachalam Quiz Club and Dr. T. Mathiyazhagan Archaeology Club are active in the department. Club activities are organised by student volunteers on the advice and guidance of Professor Incharge. Students meet regularly in the presence of the Professor Incharge and conduct the club activities.
Rev. Fr. P. Susai, SJ Endowment Inter School Quiz, Dr. M. Arumairaj Inter College Quiz and Rev. Dr. M. Arockiasamy Xavier, SJ Inter College Quiz are being organised regularly in view of motivating the school and college students to update their subject and general knowledge.
The Department takes keen interest in providing students hands on experience by arranging field visits and study tours regularly. The study tours cover historical places in Tamil Nadu and also all over India. These visits provide academic exposure to students by visiting to Libraries, Museums, Book Fairs, Archaeological Sites, Historical Monuments, etc.
To encourage historical research and to support the historians of the subcontinent, a biannual research journal titled "Indian Historical Studies" (ISSN 0973-2713) is being published from the Department since October 2004. It is a recognized journal by the Registration of Newspapers of India, New Delhi(TN/ENG/04144/13/08/2003) and is financially supported by Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR), New Delhi. In January 2023, the journal was enlisted in UGC-CARE List. It is published regularly twice a year; April and October.
Placed in SFT SchoolKALPANA SBA History (2024)
Placed in Trip FactoryPREETHA VBA History (2024)
Placed in Kongu Group of InstitutionsKALPANA SBA History (2024)
Placed in NICE EDUCATIONGuru Prasath R BBA History (2021)
University Rank 7INNOCENT TUDUBA HISTORY (2019)
University Rank 1ANTHONY JAYARAJ AMA HISTORY (2019)
