Janet Horne is a social and cultural historian of modern France with a research specialization in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. She has an overarching interest in the history and archeology of modern cultural institutions such as museums and all forms of associational life, both in national and imperial contexts. Her first book, A Social Laboratory for Modern France, focused on the social, political and cultural underpinnings of the French welfare state via a study of social reformers associated with the Musée social. She is currently interested in the history of French as a global language and is engaged in the writing of a cultural and social history of the Alliance Française.

Janet holds a courtesy joint appointment in UVA’s Corcoran Department of History (2002 to present) and is currently serving as the Director of European Studies (2016-2018). In this latter role, she is working with a dynamic team of scholars at UVA to develop a new interdisciplinary MA program in European Studies.

She is also a great believer in the value of living and studying abroad and consequently takes great pleasure in advising students who wish to expand their personal and intellectual horizons in this way. She is the founder and director of the UVA in Lyon exchange and study abroad programs (2000-present) and the UVA summer program in Lyon (2002-present).