While the United States recovered from the Civil War, scholars undertook the task of chronicling its events, and its impact. This sparked an era of professionalization for historians in America, as young Americans first established themselves as full-time historians associated with institutions of higher education and research. During this period the American Historical Association was founded, as was the scholarly journal, American Historical Review. With an emphasis on training in research methods, the 47 historians profiled in this DLB volume contributed much to the intellectual commerce of the nation.

47 entries include: Henry Adams, James Henry Breasted, W.E.B. DuBois, Charles Homer Haskins, Henry Cabot Lodge, John Bach McMaster, Herbert L. Osgood, James Harvey Robinson, TheodoreRoosevelt, Edwin R. A. Seligman, Ida M. Tarbell and Woodrow Wilson.