Earned A.M. and Ph.D in American Civilization from University of Pennsylvania
Joined Penn faculty as assistant professor of American Civilization, eventually rose to Walter Annenberg Professor of History
Published A Sacred Circle: The Dilemma of the Intellectual in the Old South, 1840-1860
Published A Sacred Circle: The Dilemma of the Intellectual in the Old South, 1840-1860
Published The Creation of Confederate Nationalism: Ideology and Identity in the Civil War South and James Henry Hammond and the Old South: A Design for Master
Diagnosed with breast cancer
Published Southern Stories: Slaveholders in Peace and War
Published Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War
Won the Society of American Historians Francis Parkman Prize for Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War
Appointed first dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, successor to Radcliffe college
Named member of "Time 100"
Selected as the next Harvard president
Appointment as next Harvard president was made official
Awarded honorary Doctorate of Human Letters from Bowdoin College
Delivered first installation address as president of Harvard
Greatly improved financial aid at Harvard
Published This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War
Awarded honorary Doctorate from University of Pennsylvania and honorary Doctor of Humanities from Yale University
Received Bancroft Prize from Columbia University for This Republic of Suffering, included in Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women