The Department is established in the year 1968 and offers two year Master’s degree course in History with specializations in Ancient Indian History, Medieval Indian History and Modern Indian History. Department has also been offering M.Phil and Ph.D. programme in regular mode. Padma Shri K. C. Panigrahi was the first head of the Department and Head of the Heads (Chairman, PG Council). The M.Phil course designed to provide theory and practical knowledge of research work in History was introduced in 1979-80. One-year course in Tourism and Indian Monuments [DTIM] was introduced in 1984 as first of its kind in the state. Only Post-Graduates in History, Culture & Archaeology are eligible to seek admission into the course (DTIM). This course is unique in India in the field of Tourism and Monuments and imparts instructions on different aspects of Tourism and Monuments of India in general and Odisha in particular with field study and destination oriented practical course.

The Department has Archival Cell which contains a large number of Gazetteers, Reports, journals, magazines, Odia literature, Proceedings, Private Papers, Text books of recent trends, and Rare Books relating to history, laws, medicine, religion, politics, science, art and culture. The reference section caters to the needs of scholars who utilize the materials preserved in the Archival Cell.

Highly committed teachers have been engaged in teaching and research in various fields in general and regional history in particular since the inception of the Department. In recognition to the academic achievements of the department the UGC has sanctioned the Special Assistance Programme (at DRS level) to the department from the academic session 1999-2000. The Department has successfully completed Phase-I and Phase-II level and the UGC has upgraded the SAP, from Phase-II to Phase-III level further for a period of five years i.e. from 01.04.2009 to 31.03.2014. The UGC has also sanctioned the ASIHSS program in addition to SAP, for its achievement in the first phase of SAP for a period five years from 2006-07.

The Department has been organizing National, International and State Level Seminars, conducting Refresher Courses/Conferences/Workshops from time to time. The teachers of the Department have earned International fame by visiting foreign countries as Visiting Fellow/Professor and participating in International Seminars and Conferences at regular intervals. The faculty members have been associated with the U.G.C., the U.P.S.C., different State P.S.Cs and such other prestigious organizations at national and state levels. Further, the teachers have been taking up academic assignments as Resource Persons and Visiting Professors of different universities.

Besides these, the department was also publishing a bi-annual research journal entitled Studies in History and Culture (ISSN: 0971-9326) of international standard since 1993. Since 2006-07, the Department is publishing a yearly edited volume, Studies on Orissan History under the ASIHSS programme. During the last several years the departmental activities in the fields of teaching and research have increased considerably. In 2018 department has completed 50 years and celebrated Golden Jubilee year by organizing Distinguished Lecture Series and honoring and felicitating the former faculties of the department. The First International Seminar (ICH 1.0) was organized by the Department in February 2020 under the World Bank Project. Department has also organized its first History Alumni Meet (HAM -I) in 2020