My name is Thomas Messersmith, and I'm a historian. I was raised in the small town of Cullman, AL. After high school, I went to Auburn University, where I majored in History with a minor in German. I then moved to Chicago as I pursued my MA at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. I then moved to the Washington, DC, area to complete my PhD at the University of Maryland. While at the University of Maryland, I received a Fulbright grant to live in Austria for one year (2018-2019 academic year), where I completed my dissertation research. In March 2024, I defended my dissertation, titled "'God Rather Than Men': Austrian Catholic Theology and the Origins of the Christian Social Party, 1848-1893."
Since 2023, I have lived in my hometown of Cullman, AL, with my wife and two children.
In my professional career, I have taught in both higher education and high school. In addition to my years working as a Teaching Assistant at both NIU and the University of Maryland (the latter of which, I was instructor of record for several classes), I taught at Katz Yeshiva High School of South Florida from 2020-2023 and then taught at Wallace State Community College from 2023-2025.
I left academia in 2025 to pursue a career in public historical research. I had been a freelance researcher for Bailey Sarian for several years, working on her award-winning "Dark History" series and then her award-winning "Murder, Mystery, and Makeup" series. In 2025, however, I was hired as the full-time Head Researcher for Bailey Sarian. I am currently working in this position, helping grow the research department for Bailey Sarian and her associated shows.
I try to answer any emails as soon as I can!
