The Department of Geology first appeared in the Catalogue of Tufts College for the 1892-1893 academic year. By the 1893-1894 academic year, the Department of Geology articulated a list of courses that comprised its curriculum. Professor Marshall was listed as being the head of the Department. For the 1902-1903 academic year, the Department of Geology articulated the following philosophy and mission statement, "The subjects offered in the department of Geology have a twofold object: to give an outline of the structure and history of the earth; and to give a training in the methods of observational science".

History of Department of Geology

The Department of Geology first appeared in the Catalogue of Tufts College for the 1892-1893 academic year. By the 1893-1894 academic year, the Department of Geology articulates a list of courses that comprise its curriculum. Professor Marshall is listed as being the head of the Department. For the 1902-1903 academic year, the Department of Geology articulated the following philosophy and mission statement, "The subjects offered in the department of Geology have a twofold object: to give an outline of the structure and history of the earth; and to give a training in the methods of observational science".

Professor Alfred Church Lane, a leading scholar and a long-serving chairman of the Department of Geology resigned during the 1935-1936 academic year over his refusal to sign the "loyalty oath" which the state of Massachusetts had recently made a precondition for individuals teaching in its schools. The state law which stipulated the signing of the "loyalty oath" as a precondition for teaching in Massachusetts schools called on teachers to "support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts".

The Department of Geology began offering a Master of Arts degree for the 1939-1940 academic year. It concluded this degree program after the 1970-1971 academic year.