The study of romance languages at Hopkins began with the founding of the university in 1876. The original intent was for romance languages to supplement classical studies. Aaron Marshall Elliott was named an Associate in 1876 to teach romance languages and was promoted to full professor in 1892. Elliott received the Ph.D. from Harvard in 1867 and studied in Europe for eight years before returning to assume his position at Hopkins. Since he was the only faculty member at Hopkins in his field, Elliott taught a wide variety of languages, including not only Italian, Spanish and French (old, modern and Provencal), but also Persian as well as numerous dialects.

By 1884 Elliott had established a seminary which would train many prominent romance scholars for American universities. He was also responsible for founding the Modern Language Association of America and its review, Modern Language Notes, which still plays an important part in literary criticism.

Elliott was succeeded in the department by Edward Cooke Armstrong, an 1897 Hopkins Ph.D. in French. Armstrong taught at Hopkins from 1897 to 1917, and chaired the department from 1910 until 1917, when he assumed a professorship at Princeton. Under Armstrong's direction the Romance Journal Club was founded, composed of a group of faculty and students who met weekly and reviewed foreign scientific literature. Armstrong's departure led to a period of disorganization in the department, as other faculty members also left for other institutions. In 1919, Henry Carrington Lancaster, who received his Ph.D. from Hopkins in French in 1907, was named Professor and began to rebuild the department and reinforce the traditional seminary style of education. Although courses were offered in Italian and Spanish, French remained the primary emphasis of the department.

Another period of decline occurred after the Second World War, as a number of notable scholars left Hopkins, including Charles Singleton and George Poulet. Poulet had served as chairman from 1952 to 1954, succeeding Lancaster; when Poulet departed Nathan Edelman was appointed chairman, and once more the rebuilding process began. In 1957 Singleton returned to the department after spending ten years at Harvard. Singleton's presence was to dominate the Romance Languages Department for almost three decades, despite the fact that his primary appointment was in the Humanities Center, which he had founded. Singleton was known as one of the foremost scholars on Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, and his scholarship received numerous awards, including the Order of Commendation, the highest honor the Italian government can bestow on a non-Italian.

Singleton was also instrumental in developing the Spellman Villa, in Florence, Italy, as a study facility for Hopkins faculty and graduate students. The building is used as a retreat for Hopkins scholars doing research in Italy. Singleton remained involved in the affairs of the Romance Languages Department until his death in 1985.

During the 1960s and 1970s the department was headed by several chairmen: Rene Girard (ca. 1960-1968), Elias Rivers (1968-1974), Lionel Gossman (1974- 1976), Paul Olson (1976-1981) and Gerard Defaux (1981-1984). In 1984 the Department of Romance Languages was divided into two separate departments, the Department of French (chaired by Defaux), and the Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies, under the direction of Harry Sieber.