Tom Day Crouch (born February 28, 1944)Tom D. Crouch CV
at the National Air and Space Museum - Smithsonian is an American aeronautics historian and

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

.Tom D. Crouch
at the SIA archives.

Biography

Life

Crouch was born in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

and grew up just outside of Dayton in Crystal Lakes, between

Medway Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...

and New Carlisle. He is a graduate of Tecumseh High School, and was inducted into the school's Hall of Honor in 2002. Crouch attended

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

, where he received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in history in 1966. He also attended

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

and received a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in history there in 1968. He later earned a

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

in history from the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in 1976. In 2001 the

Wright State University Wright State University is a public research university in Fairborn, Ohio. Originally opened in 1964 as a branch campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, it became an independent institution in 1967 and was named in honor of aviation ...

awarded him with an honorary

Doctor of Humane Letters The degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (; DHumLitt; DHL; or LHD) is an honorary degree awarded to those who have distinguished themselves through humanitarian and philanthropic contributions to society. The criteria for awarding the degree differ ...

degree.Tom D. Crouch bio
at www.sil.si.edu. On November 2, 1963, Crouch married Nancy Anne Gochenouer. They have three children.

Career

An employee of the

Ohio Historical Society Ohio History Connection, formerly The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and Ohio Historical Society, is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1885. Headquartered at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio History Connect ...

, 1968–1974, Crouch planned the exhibits for the Neil Armstrong Museum,

Wapakoneta, Ohio Wapakoneta, (, ) is a city in and the county seat of Auglaize County, Ohio, United States, about north of Dayton and south of Toledo. The population was 9,957 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of and is included in the Wapakonet ...

and the history exhibitions for the Ohio Historical Center. He accepted a curatorial position with the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in 1974, and prepared exhibitions for the opening of that building in 1976. He transferred to the National Museum of American History (NMAH) in 1983, where he remained until 1990, rising to the position of Chairman, Social and Cultural History. He was involved in planning the "More Perfect Union: Japanese-Americans and the U.S. Constitution" exhibition. He was named Chairman of the Aeronautics Department of the NASM in 1990, and in 1999 was named Senior Curator, Aeronautics. Crouch was appointed by then President

William J. Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...

to chair the federal advisory board planning activities commemorating the first flight of Orville and Wilbur Wright in 2003. He also participated in and worked to resolve the issues over the

Enola Gay The ''Enola Gay'' () is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, piloted by Tibbets and Robert A. Lewis during the final stages of World War II, it be ...

bomber being displayed at the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...

. Crouch is the author of some fifteen books and many articles, primarily on topics related to the

history of flight technology The history of aviation extends for more than two thousand years, from the earliest forms of aviation such as kites and attempts at tower jumping to supersonic and hypersonic flight by powered, heavier-than-air jets. Kite flying in China ...

. He rededicated the

Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation The Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation is in Los Angeles, California. The shrine is a structure of marble, mosaic, and sculpted figures and is the burial site for fifteen pioneers of aviation. Designed by Kenneth A. MacDonald Jr. an ...

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

, in May 1996. Crouch became a regular guest in the National Air and Space Museum's television show,

STEM in 30 ''STEM in 30'' is a non-commercial online science educational program for middle school students produced by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The show is hosted by science-educators Marty Kelsey and Beth Wilson ...

. He appeared in eight episodes from 2014-2018.

Bibliography

As author

* * * * * * * * * *

As editor

* *

Recognitions

Crouch was awarded a 1989

Christopher Award The Christopher Award (established 1949) is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, films and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit". It is given by The Christophers, a Christian organization ...

for his book ''The Bishop's Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright''. In 2005 he won the AIAA Gardner-Lasser Literature Prize for the book ''Wings: A History of Aviation From Kites to the Space Age''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crouch, Tom D. 1944 births Living people Ohio University alumni Miami University alumni Ohio State University Graduate School alumni American curators 21st-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Writers from Dayton, Ohio People from Clark County, Ohio Historians from Ohio 21st-century American male writers