A native of suburban Chicago, Tom Connors has been interested in American History since he was a boy.  Between his undergraduate degree from Washington and Lee in Virginia and graduate work at the University of Illinois, he taught freshmen and sophomore history at Mount St. Michael Academy in the Bronx.  He is currently responsible for the University of Northern Iowa’s History Education program, teaching its Methods course as well as classes in American, British, and Irish history. He has served as president of the local historical society and is active in the city’s historical preservation issues. He’s presently piloting a service learning experience where undergraduates explore public history by volunteering at local museums and archives. 

Connors’ research has ranged on topics from early modern Ireland to nineteenth century America. He has edited letters of an Irish rebel exiled in Tasmania and published articles on religion in Reformation Ireland and Washington Irving and the landscape of Sleepy Hollow. His current research is on using cemeteries as teaching tools, exploring how their geography, architecture, and symbolism reflect cultural divisions and eras. 

Since 2002, Connors has worked on TAH grants with 24 districts in as many states.   At many sites, he has researched and led a historical tour of a local cemetery, putting its landscape into broader historical context, while highlighting its unique qualities.  He has now led tours of 25 cemeteries in 17 states, ranging from Arlington National Cemetery to the ghost town cemetery of Lehigh, OK and from Hollywood to New York and New Orleans to Fairbanks.  Each cemetery’s rich historic landscape reveals the community’s character and reflects the rich regional diversity still to be found across the country. 

Connors is passionate about using a wide range of primary sources to engage students in learning about history.  He has presented on using the Blues for teaching the Great Migration, Thomas Nast cartoons for the Gilded Age, and films for the Cold War. Deeply interested in memory and commemoration, he has given talks on American War Memorials and led historical tours of Virginia, Washington, Chicago, New York, and Lincoln’s Springfield.   Other presentations range from using Art to teach American History to designing a framework for teaching American wars.