Miriam C. Davis

Miriam Davis is an expert in medieval history and archaeology. After graduating from Emory University, Miriam studied history and archaeology at the University of St Andrews on a Bobby Jones Scholarship. She went on to earn an MA in medieval archaeology from the University of York on a Fulbright grant, and a Ph.D. in medieval history from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has participated in archaeological excavations in Mississippi, Alabama, England, and Scotland. Currently, Miriam is a freelance writer. She has written for the popular press on archaeology, history, and travel and has lectured throughout the U.S., Great Britain, and Israel. Her work has also been featured on The Travel Channel. As a history professor at Delta State University for 16 years, she taught a wide variety of courses, including ancient and medieval history, the Renaissance and Reformation, English history, and the history of Christianity. Miriam is the author of Dame Kathleen Kenyon: Digging Up the Holy Land and The Axeman of New Orleans: The True Story. She has served as a Smithsonian Journeys Expert for trips since 2011.

Carol Ann Lloyd

Carol Ann Lloyd is a popular speaker and author who specializes in Early Modern History, particularly the Tudors and Shakespeare. She has enjoyed speaking to Smithsonian audiences for eight years, offering programs about Henry VIII and his Six Wives, Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, the Wars of the Roses, Jane Austen, Mothers of the Monarchs, and Shakespeare. She also speaks nationally for Royal Oak Foundation, Agecroft Hall, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University, TEDx, and numerous community venues. She is a member of the National Speakers Association and holds graduate degrees in Education from the University of Virginia and English from the University of Utah. The former Manager of Visitor Education of Folger Shakespeare Library, Carol Ann designs interactive Shakespeare programs for students and families. She also delivers corporate communication workshops for organizations in the Washington, DC area and is the author of Building Relationships, One Conversation at a Time: A Guide for Work and Home. Carol Ann is currently writing a book about the Tudors. 

Tom Dawson

Professor Tom Dawson is an archaeologist and Professorial Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews. He started his archaeological career in London, excavating trenches up to 20 feet deep in the heart of the city. He then conducted excavations in Japan, Italy, Ireland and France, and spent three years in Sri Lanka, training archaeologists at World Heritage Sites and doing underwater archaeology on the south coast.

Since joining Scotland’s oldest University, Tom has pioneered ways of working with sites threatened by climate change. He is the CEO of SCAPE (Scottish Coastal Archaeology and the Problem of Erosion) and together with his team, has inspired creative ways of recording threatened heritage. A strong advocate of public archaeology, most projects were developed in collaboration with local communities.

Tom regularly appears on TV shows in the UK and has written many academic papers. His edited publications include Archaeology and Coastal Erosion in Scotland and Public Archaeology and Climate Change. He sits on a number of international panels and advisory boards and was formerly a Commissioner with the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and Vice President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

Darragh Gannon

Dr. Darragh Gannon is Associate Director of Global Irish Studies at Georgetown University. He previously served as Head of Irish Studies at University College Dublin and Vice President of the Global Irish Diaspora Congress.

He has published widely on British and Irish History. His books include Proclaiming a Republic: Ireland, 1916 and the National Collection (Irish Academic Press, 2016), Ireland 1922: independence, partition, civil war (Royal Irish Academy, 2021), and Conflict, Diaspora, and Empire: Irish nationalism in Britain, 1912-1922 (Cambridge University Press, 2023).

Dr. Gannon is a regular commentator on culture and current affairs for international media outlets including the BBC, RTÉ, the Irish Times, Le Monde, and ABC Australia.