Thomas Blossom Papers

Access and use

Location of collection:
Old Dominion University
3023 Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library
Old Dominion University
4427 Hampton Blvd
Norfolk, VA 23529
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Jessica Ritchie
Phone: (757) 683-4483
Fax: (757) 683-5954
Restrictions:

Open to researchers without restrictions.

Terms of access:

Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from Special Collections and University Archives, and the holder of the copyright, if not Old Dominion University Libraries.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Box [insert number], Folder [insert number and title], Dr. Thomas Blossom Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Summary

Extent:
2.00 Linear Feet and 2 Hollinger documents cases, 1 oversized box boxes
Creator:
Blossom, Thomas (1912-1992)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Box [insert number], Folder [insert number and title], Dr. Thomas Blossom Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains material related to the professional life of Thomas Blossom, a professor in the Department of History at Old Dominion University. The collection also contains some genealogy information on Blossom's family. An oral history with Thomas Blossom is available on the Old Dominion University Libraries Digital Collections website.

Biographical / historical:

Thomas Blossom was born on February 15, 1912, to Harold H. and Mary Dawson Blossom in Dedham, Massachusetts. His secondary education was at the Boston Latin School (1926-1929) and at the Beacon School in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Blossom received his BA from Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1934, his M. A. in 1935 from Columbia University in New York and his Ph.D. from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, in 1956.

Blossom taught history at the secondary level from 1935 to 1940 when he entered the U.S. Navy for the duration of World War II. Blossom served with the Interior Department at Cherokee, North Carolina, as Naval Convoy Liaison Officer for the Atlantic and Mediterranean and with the Naval Separation Center interviewing separatees. From 1946 until 1963 Blossom served as a reserve officer with the U.S. Navy.

From 1946 to 1956 Blossom was assistant and then associate professor of history at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1956 Blossom accepted the position of chairman with the Social Studies department at Southern State College in Magnolia, Arkansas. In 1958 Blossom became assistant professor of Humanities at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Blossom wrote three books: The Americas (1964), Narino (1967), and a biography of Santander. He was a contributor to the 1972 edition of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia. Blossom also wrote many book reviews and scholarly articles. He was listed in Who's Who Among American Authors and International Who's Who.

Thomas Blossom married the former Mildred Underwood, (1940). They resided in Virginia Beach, Virginia. They had four children: Frances (Mrs. John L. Caughey), Katherine Eleanor, Mary (Mrs. Terry Springle) and Martha (Mrs. James Medeiros). Dr. Blossom died in 1992.

Note written by Sonia Yaco

Acquisition information:

Dr. Thomas Blossom

Gift. Accession #A76-57

Arrangement:

The papers are organized into two series: Series I Personal; and Series II, Professional.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard