Welcome Dr. Samuel Thomas!

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Samuel Thomas will join our department in August as a specialist in early modern European history. Sam earned his Ph.D. at Washington University in St. Louis in 2003 and has been teaching at Wittenberg University in Springfield, OH since then. Sam’s current research explores religious community in early modern England. He uses the diaries of Presbyterian minister Oliver Heywood, maintained over many decades, to provide a micro-history of religious community in early modern England. His work enhances historical understanding of conflicts between the Church of England and nonconformists and reassesses the presumed impact of the Reformation on community life. He has already begun developing a new research project on midwives and medicine in early modern England.

Sam will teach courses on early modern Europe and medieval and early modern England, as well as religion, medicine, and women’s history in a British and European context. Sam also plans to introduce a course on African history, and to take students to York, England via a Global Studies class. Welcome Sam!