Caitlin Rosenthal

Research Bio

Caitlin C. Rosenthal is an associate professor in the Berkeley Department of History and an affiliated faculty member at the Haas School of Business. She is a historian of 18th and 19th century U.S. history. Rosenthal’s research focuses on the development of management practices, especially those based on data analysis. Methodologically, Rosenthal seeks to blend qualitative and quantitative methods and to combine insights from business history, economic history, and labor history.

Research Expertise and Interest

American history, capitalism, economic history, slavery, human resources

In the News

Writing slavery back into American business history

Caitlin Rosenthal, an assistant professor of history at UC Berkeley, has brought history into fresh focus with her new book, Accounting for Slavery: Masters and Management, which examines how white owners of enslaved black people were early innovators of many business practices and terms we use today.

Featured in the Media

Please note: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or positions of UC Berkeley.
November 26, 2018

Why Management History Needs to Reckon with Slavery

Harvard Business Review
Assistant history professor Caitlin Rosenthal discusses her new book Accounting for Slavery: Masters and Management on the Harvard Business Review's IdeaCast podcast. Noting that she's "probably the only person to write a history of slavery by accident," she describes how she became interested in the "emergence of scale in American businesses," and how that led her to a thread of stories showing "slaveholders using many of the same practices that are usually considered to be milestones in the emergence of modern business." She thought, "What would the history of American business practices look like if we fully considered slavery? How could we write slavery back into that history?" Link to audio.
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Teaching

Courses taught during the three most recent terms
2026 Spring

  • Core Courses in the Literature of the Several Fields of History: Yearlong, 2-unit  [HISTORY 275Y]  

  • Directed Dissertation Research  [HISTORY 296]  

  • Directed Reading  [HISTORY 299]  

  • Directed Reading  [HISTORY 299]  

2025 Fall

  • Core Courses in the Literature of the Several Fields of History: Yearlong, 2-unit  [HISTORY 275Y]  

  • Directed Dissertation Research  [HISTORY 296]  

2025 Spring

  • Directed Dissertation Research  [HISTORY 296]  

  • Directed Reading  [HISTORY 299]  

  • Directed Reading  [HISTORY 299]