Sabrina Darnowsky

The first time I ever reached out to Tom Hamm was when I was working on Friends Past and Present: The Bicentennial History of Cincinnati Friends Meeting (1815-2015). I was wading through the historic Disciplines (the guidelines on Quaker faith and practice that we now actually call Faith and Practice), but post-1828, it was extremely difficult to tell which editions were created by the Orthodox branch of Indiana Yearly Meeting, and which ones were created by the Hicksite branch. As a professor of Quaker history at Earlham College, Tom, of course, knew the answer to that question.

Fast forward 13 years, and I’m still asking Tom questions related to my research and projects! What am I going to do when he retires?? Well, I’m going to join a boatload of other people in celebrating his outstanding work in the field of Quaker studies.

Earlham College has organized Quakerrama: A Celebration of the Career of Thomas D. Hamm on May 19-20, and I for one can’t wait to go! For Quaker history nerds like me, this is better than Disney World! The two-day event includes panel discussions with folks from Earlham School of Religion, Haverford College, Guilford College, George Fox University, Yale University, and Woodbrooke Centre in Great Britain, among other centers of scholarship. And the cherry on top is closing remarks from Tom himself!

I personally owe Tom a deep debt of gratitude, and he deserves every accolade he receives (even if modesty prevents him from admitting it!).