Public Lecture by Erkko Professor Anne McCants – Memory, Human Dignity, and the Practice of History

Who or what should be remembered and why? That we practice the art of remembering is beyond dispute. History, as we understand it, has been written for over 2500 years, and extant record keeping extends far beyond that. Do we practice this art of preservation for the sake of those we remember, or for some other purpose(s)? Is it possible to act on behalf of those no longer living, or is the study of history something we do for our own good? 

In her talk, Professor McCants explores the connection between memory and human dignity and documents several historical examples of how the pervasive desire for dignity has manifested itself in the past. In particular, she highlights evidence drawn from the records of the Amsterdam Municipal Orphanage and the Dutch East India Company refreshment station at Cape Town, South Africa. The presentation concludes with a reflection on the ways that the writing and reading of history might contribute to that quest for dignity.

Anne McCants is the Ann F. Friedlaender Professor of Economic History at MIT. She holds an MA in Economics (UCLA), a PhD in History (UC Berkeley), and an Honorary Doctorate from Lund University. During the 2026–2027 academic year, she is Jane and Aatos Erkko Visiting Professor in Contemporary Society at HCAS.

Professor McCants’s research interests lie in the economic and social history of the Middle Ages and Early Modern Europe, as well as in the application of social science research methods across the disciplines. She is the author of Civic Charity in a Golden Age: Orphan Care in Early Modern Amsterdam (1997) and the co-editor of the three-volume Railroads in Historical Context: Construction, Costs, and Consequences (2011–2013). She has authored numerous articles that range across her research interests in historical demography, material culture, early modern trade and consumption, the provision of charity, and the relationship between economic growth and the standard of living.