Carroll Van West is an American historian. He is the

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

State Historian and a professor of history at

Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a public university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight undergraduate colleges as well as a college of graduate studies, together off ...

. He is the author or editor of several books about Montana and Tennessee.

Early life

Carroll Van West was born in

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

. He graduated from

, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1977. He earned a master's degree from the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

in 1978 and a PhD from the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...

in 1982.

Career

Van West is a professor of history at his alma mater, Middle Tennessee State University, where he is also the director of the MTSU Center for Historic Preservation. He is the author or editor of several books about Montana and Tennessee. Van West succeeded

Walter Durham Walter T. Durham (October 7, 1924 – May 24, 2013) was an American historian. He was the Tennessee State Historian from 2002 to 2013, and the author of 24 books of local history. Early life Durham was born on October 7, 1924, in Gallatin, Tenne ...

as the Tennessee State Historian in July 2013.

Selected works

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References

Living people People from Murfreesboro, Tennessee Middle Tennessee State University alumni University of Tennessee alumni College of William & Mary alumni Middle Tennessee State University faculty 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Year of birth missing (living people) American male non-fiction writers {{US-historian-stub