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The Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University is dedicated to fostering the study of European history, politics, culture, and society. Through our graduates, who go on to teach others about Europe and to many other roles in society, the Center sustains America's knowledge base about Europe, an important contribution to international understanding in difficult times.

The Center was founded as a catalyst to bring scholars and students together to talk and think about Europe. As such, it creates an intellectual community that is more than the sum of its parts. That community is open to everyone with interests in Europe. It is located in historic Adolphus Busch Hall in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is one of the 35 research centers in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

History

The Center for European Studies was founded in 1969 by Professors Stanley Hoffmann and Guido Goldman, among others. In 1989 the Center outgrew its small headquarters and moved to Adolphus Busch Hall, which originally housed the Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard. On September 23, 1989, the Center became the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, named after Minda de Gunzburg, who lived most of her life in Paris and cared deeply about the politics, history, and culture of Europe, subjects all at the heart of the work at the Center. The dedication was presided over by then-President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors.

Built under difficult circumstances to serve as a teaching museum and specifically to house the collections of the Germanic Museum, Adolphus Busch Hall has undergone considerable change over the past seventy-five years, marked by periods of both notable popularity and substantial hardship.

Hardship was brought about in part by the intensity of anti-German feeling during the two world wars. It was also, in part, the result of a misdefinition of the museum’s mission and a resulting unsuitability of design. Originally intended as a plaster cast museum to augment the teaching efforts of the Germanic Languages and Literatures Department, the museum suffered an attrition of student interest caused by the wars. The museum was subsequently used as a repository for outstanding original works of art, and while charming and popular, the building lacked adequate climate controls and its space did not permit a presentation of these works that would maximize their visual effect.

A third problem was the absence of sufficient funding to maintain and upgrade the structure, a concern of the university even before the building was erected. For most of its history, Adolphus Busch Hall lacked adequate operational funding, the result of the enormous escalation in costs for building maintenance and museum needs of the past decades.

The result of these factors brought the university to the difficult and reluctant decision in the mid-eighties to move most of the original works of art in the Busch-Reisinger Museum to properly designed new galleries and art storage facilities. It was decided that Adolphus Busch Hall would be given a new mixed use. The most distinctive plaster cast galleries would retain their museum function, housing a fine collection of medieval art, capable of withstanding rather primitive climate conditions. The Center for European Studies, whose programs include the study of Germany, seemed the appropriate partner and occupant to utilize the remaining two-thirds of the building.

Today the hall continues to house the Busch-Reisinger's founding collection of medieval plaster casts, as well as an exhibition on the history of the museum. The Center is also home to one of three replicas of the Brunswick Lion, a monument erected in 1166 by Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony. The sculpture may be found in the museum's courtyard, which is open to the public.

Current and Past Directors of the Center for European Studies include:

• Grzegorz Ekiert ('July 2012 – Present; 'Acting, Fall 2010)
• David Blackbourn (Spring 2007 – June 2012)
• Peter Hall (2001 - 2006)
• Charles Maier (1994-2001 and Acting, Fall 2006)
• Dennis Frank Thompson (2001-2002 sometime ?)
• George Ross (1998-1999)
• Stanley Hoffmann (1969 - ?)

Notable Faculty

The Center for European Studies is comprised of faculty affiliates across campus, but primarily concentrated in the History, Government, Sociology and Economics Departments in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Notable faculty members include Grzegorz Ekiert (Director), Stanley Hoffmann, Niall Ferguson, Suzanne Berger, Charles Maier, Michèle Lamont, Grzegorz Ekiert, David Kennedy, Patrice Higonnet, Peter E. Gordon, Philippe Aghion, Peter A. Hall, Torben Iversen, Vivien Schmidt, Robert D. Putnam, Kathleen Thelen, and Daniel Ziblatt.

Student Support

Thanks in part to the Krupp Foundation, the Center for European Studies is able to support undergraduate senior thesis and graduate student dissertation research on Europe. The Center for European Studies has an extensive network of doctoral students at Harvard and MIT and is also home to the Harvard College European Society for undergraduate students at Harvard College.

German Studies

The Program for the Study of Germany and Europe (PSGE) was founded in 1990 and sustained for ten years by a generous grant from the German Government provided to selected “Centers of Excellence” at North American universities. During this decade it supported the research of over ninety graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in history and the social sciences. The Program continues under the terms of a special endowment to prepare scholars for research and teaching on German topics or comparative European problems with a German component. It also supports conferences, research groups and lecture series and is a co-sponsor of the journal, ‘’German Politics and Society’’. The program continues under the direction of Dr. Guido Goldman.

The Center maintains strong ties to German academic institutions, the American Council on Germany, the German Consulate General in Boston and the German-American Business Council of Boston. The Center for European Studies also provides the John F. Kennedy Memorial Fellowship for German postdoctoral researchers in cooperation with the German Academic Exchange Service.

Important Research (rename!)

• Varieties of Capitalism
• Historical Institutionalism
• Nordic/Economic Model(s)
• Publications: The Center’s Journals include ‘’French Politics, Culture & Society (journal)’’ and ‘’German Politics and Society’’. Until December 2012, the Center for European Studies hosted three working paper series: ‘’The CES Working Papers Series’’, ‘’The Program for the Study of Germany and Europe Working Papers Series,’’ and ‘’The Program on Central and Eastern Europe Working Papers Series’’. These have all been replaced by the new and interactive ‘’Open Form – CES Papers’’.

Public Program (aka cool speakers/visitors)

• Renee's Series
• Masters Classes (Par Nuder, Peter Schneider, Constanze, Michael Zurn, Quentin Skinner, Segolene)
• Sikorski/Zaleski Lecture
• HCOP Lecture
• Study Groups