Collinsville Historical Association Annual Meeting

Special Guest Speaker Tom Osborne

Tom Osborne, Ph.D., was born in Rochester, New York, and grew up in Connecticut. He won a National Merit Scholarship and attended the University of Connecticut, where he received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in history. He has published a book and numerous articles on modern French history. After teaching in Connecticut and on Long Island for several years, he moved to Florence, Alabama, in 1978. There, he taught history at the University of North Alabama until retiring in 2013.

Since then, he has led summer seminars for teachers and given talks to many civic groups around the Shoals area. He served on the board of the Alabama Humanities Alliance (then Foundation) for over a decade. In 2014, when the Florence Bicentennial Celebration Committee was established, Osborne chaired its Faith Community committee and organized the Community Thanksgiving Celebration, the final event of the city’s bicentennial.