David K. Thomson
History Department
Sacred Heart University
5151 Park Avenue
Fairfield, CT 06825
Email: thomsond@sacredheart.edu
bondsofwar.com
Education
2016 University of Georgia
Ph.D., History
Committee: Stephen Berry (chair), Stephen Mihm, Julia Ott, and Daniel Rood
2008 Bowdoin College
Bachelor of Arts, History with Honors
Academic Employment
2016-present Assistant Professor of History, Sacred Heart University
Publications
Edited Volumes
“We Are in His Hands Whether We Live or Die:” The Letters of Brevet Brigadier General Charles Henry Howard (University of Tennessee Press, 2013.)
“‘Blessed Boyhood:’ The ‘Early Memoir’ of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Bowdoin College Press, 2013.) Co-edited with Tom A. Desjardins.
Articles and Book Chapters
“Financing the War,” in Aaron Sheehan-Dean ed., The Cambridge History of the American Civil War 3 vols. (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming, 2019).
“‘Like a Cord Through the Whole Country’: Union Bonds and Financial Mobilization for Victory,” The Journal of the Civil War Era Vol. 6, no. 3 (September 2016), forthcoming.
“Oliver Otis Howard: Reassessing the Legacy of the ‘Christian General.’” American Nineteenth Century History Vol. 10, no. 3 (September 2009): 273-98.
Book Reviews
Reviews for The Alabama Review, Civil War History (2), Civil War Monitor (2),
Enterprise & Society, H-CivWar, North Carolina Historical Review (2), The Southern Quarterly, and Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.
Popular Pieces
“Lehman Brothers Goes to War,” Disunion Blog, New York Times (September 2013).
“Why the Belmont is Named for a Rothschild Banking Agent,” Echoes: Dispatches from Economic History, Bloomberg (June 2013).
“Bowdoin’s Other Civil War Sons,” Civil War Monitor (August 2012).
“Oliver Otis Howard,” The Essential Civil War Curriculum, William C. Davis and James I. Robertson, editors, (August 2012).
Conference Presentations
“‘Removing Prejudices and Solidifying the Nation’: Union Bond Sales in the Confederacy,” 2016 Southern Historical Association Annual Meeting, St. Petersburg Beach, Florida, November 2016.
“Internationalizing the American Civil War: The German and Dutch Impact on Union Bond Sales, 1862-1865,” 2015 Business History Conference and European Business History Association Joint Meeting, Miami, Florida, June 2015.
“The Bonds of Empire,” Roundtable on Emotional History in the Civil War Era (roundtable organizer), Society of Civil War Historians Fourth Biennial Meeting, Baltimore, Maryland, June 2014.
“A Man without Faith, Party, or Country (but not without means): August Belmont and the Politics of Capital Citizenship in the Civil War Era,” 2013 British American Nineteenth Century Historians Conference, Madingley Hall, Cambridge, England, October 2013.
“The Civil War as an ‘Act of God:’ Life Insurance and the Impact of the Fourteenth Amendment,” From Property to Personhood: The Intents and Unintended Consequences of the Reconstruction Amendments, Third Biennial UnCivil Wars Conference, Athens, Georgia, October 2013.
“‘God’s Providence Seems to Have Been Showing Forth from All Quarters’: George Cheever, Matthew Simpson, and the Ministerial Pursuit of Emancipation,” Baptist History & Heritage Society Annual Conference, Richmond, Virginia, May 2013.
“‘A Catholic that Loves Not His Country Does Not Understand His Religion’:
Catholic Influence on Union Civil War Diplomacy, Politics of Citizenship, and State Formation,” The Politics of Religion: 13th Annual Graduate Student Symposium, Department of Religion, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, February 2013.
“‘The Will of God Prevails’: Ministerial Influence on Union Diplomacy,” The Transnational Significance of the American Civil War: A Global History, German Historical Institute, Washington D.C., September 2012.
Invited Presentations
“‘Like a Cord Through the Whole Country’: The 7-30 Bond Drive and the Evolution of National Financial Markets,” Civil War Studies Seminar, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, November 2015.
“The Nation’s Banker: Jay Cooke and the 5-20 and 7-30 Bond Drives,” Library Company of Philadelphia Colloquium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 2014.
“Bonds of War: Capital and the Evolution of Financial Markets in the American Civil War,” University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England, May 2014.
“‘Otis,’ Charles, and Rowland: Sourcing the Wartime Legacy of the Howards,” The Afterlife of the American Civil War, Bowdoin Alumni College, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, August 2013.
“Bowdoin Alumni: Disunion and Dissent,” Bowdoin and the Civil War at 150: Brothers in Arms, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, April 2013.
Fellowships
Rothschild Archive Research Bursary (for Roubaix, France archive), The Rothschild Archive, London, England, 2016.
Program in Early American Economy and Society Fellowship, The Library Company of Philadelphia, 2014.
Marty and Bruce Coffey Fellow, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 2014.
Gilder Lehrman Fellowship, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, New York, New York, 2014.
New York Public Library Short-Term Research Fellowship, New York, New York, 2014.
Everett Helm Visiting Fellowship, Indiana University, 2014.
Alfred D. Chandler Jr. Travel Fellowship, Harvard Business School, 2013.
History Project Research Grant, Harvard Center for History and Economics, 2013.
University of Georgia Franklin College—University of Liverpool Doctoral Student Short—Term International Research Fellowship, 2013.
Rothschild Archive Research Bursary, The Rothschild Archive, London, England, 2012.
Awards and Honors
Business History Conference Doctoral Colloquium Participant, Business History Conference, 2016.
Gregory Graduate Research Award, History Department, University of Georgia, 2012-2015.
Alfred D. Chandler Jr. Travel Fellowship, Business History Conference, 2015.
Emory Thomas Research Award, University of Georgia, 2015.
Carl Vipperman Teaching Assistantship Award, University of Georgia, 2014.
Gregory Graduate Travel Award, History Department, University of Georgia, 2013.
Willson Center Graduate Research Award, The Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, University of Georgia, 2012.
Sherman David Spector of the Class of 1950 Fellowship for Graduate Study in History and Teaching, Bowdoin College, 2011.
National Endowment for the Humanities Grant, Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops for School Teachers (2), 2009.
Class of 1875 Prize in American History, Bowdoin College, 2008.
Professional Service
Advisory Board Member, O.O. Howard NHPRC Digitization Project, Bowdoin College, 2014-2017.
Chapter Editor, American Yawp, 2015-present
Submissions Reviewer: Enterprise & Society
Chair, Graduate Student Connections Committee, Society of Civil War Historians, 2012-2016.
Contributing Editor, The Civil War Monitor, 2012-2015.
Associate Editor, The Southern Historian, 2011-2012.
Primary Contributor and Co-Editor, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain Bowdoin College Digital Archive, 2008.
University Service
UGA History Department First Year Committee, 2012-2014.
History Graduate Student Association Treasurer, 2013-2014.
Mentor for first years in UGA History Department, 2012- 2015.
History Graduate Student Association Professional Development Workshop Coordinator, 2012-2013.
Teaching Experience
Instructor of Record:
American History to 1877
History of United States Foreign Policy
Scholarly Affiliations
Organization of American Historians
The Business History Conference
The Society of Civil War Historians
The Southern Historical Association