Anne McCants is the Ann F. Friedlaender Professor of History. She studied economics, German, and history at Mount Holyoke College, and completed a MA in economics and Ph.D. in history at UCLA and UC Berkeley, respectively. She came to MIT in 1991 where she has served as Head of History, and as a Head of House in both graduate and undergraduate dorms. Her teaching is focused in the areas of European economic and social history and social science research methods. She is the author of Civic Charity in a Golden Age: Orphan Care in Early Modern Amsterdam (1997), and numerous articles and edited volumes on historical demography, material culture, technology in social context, and the standard of living in the Dutch Republic. She is currently engaged in several major projects: one examining the long-term roots of economic development with a particular focus on the role played by institutions of the family and gender equity, and developing new measures for the study of wellbeing; another on the economic and social history of the Dutch Cape Colony in southern Africa; and a study of social and economic inequality in early modern Amsterdam. She serves as Past President of the International Economic History Association, Past President of the Social Science History Association, and Editor of the Journal of Interdisciplinary History. Her favorite ways to unwind are taking long walks, cooking/baking, working with fibers and textiles, and digging in the garden.
Recent publications and projects
