He received his B.A. from Carleton College and his Ph.D. from New York University. Tom has published work on the post-Depression phototext and on the museum cultures of early New York City. He is currently at work on a book length manuscript on how U.S. writers of the 20th and 21st century use material and visual culture to explore the ways that unexpected encounters with particularly evocative objects and images can reorganize one’s sense of self, the past, and social relationships.